The Reincarnation
by Rogue Nine1
Summary: *Completed 1/9/03* The Yuuzhan Vong are gone, but a powerful new enemy attacks the reborn Rebel Alliance. Old friends return, as do old enemies. Rated for violence in later chapters.
1. Awakening

Spoilers for Traitor

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. Any of the ships, characters, or planets you remember belong to George Lucas.

Corporate Sector Authority Super Star Destroyer Planet Slayer

  
  


The cold, sterile room was lit only by the glow of the green liquid in the transparisteel tanks. The figures in the tanks made the shadows move as they bobbed up and down.

Captain Telisk Derner shivered, though he suspected it was from the man standing next to him, not the temperature. Vakir Garinoska, the president of the Corporate Sector and commander of the CSA was an imposing figure at nearly two meters tall, and the red glow of the cybernetic right eye made him look even more frightening, especially in the dimly lit laboratory. But most frightening of all, Garinoska was a Dark Jedi. His past was mostly unknown but the rumor in the CSA fleet was that he had been a Jensaarai who had been beaten once in combat by Luke Skywalker and Corran Horn. After that he had supposedly gone rogue.

He had taken control of the Corporate Sector ten years ago, and had been building the CSA fleets the whole time. It was rumored he was going to invade the New Republic and get revenge on Skywalker and Horn. Then the Yuuzhan Vong came, and attacked the New Republic, leaving the Corporate Sector alone. Now, nearly two years after the Vong had been repelled, Garinoska was almost ready to begin his quest to topple the New Republic.

Derner had backed Garinoska from the beginning, seeing it as his chance to get revenge on Han Solo for the humiliation of his grandfather and to bring respect back to his family's name.

"When will they be ready?" asked Garinoska. He indicated the men in the tank.

"The scientists say two weeks at the earliest, but they want more time to make sure every thing is perfect."

"They have one month. If they are not ready by then, have the project leader killed and his subordinate promoted. Do this for each week they are late."

"Yes my lord."

"Good. I'm taking the Lady of Sorrow to Bonadon. There is a matter there that requires my attention. I will be in touch." Garinoska nodded and walked out.

***

  
  


A month later, Garinoska watched from the training room's control center, as the two young men were brought in. They were just out of the tanks, still dripping with fluid. An Espo guard tossed them both black flightsuits.

Both were still extremely disoriented and weak. That would change. Both would be feeling deprived of their connection to the Force. Garinoska had had ysalamiri placed in hidden compartments in the wall.

Anakin Solo looked around wildly. The last thing he remembered was the amphistaff plunging into his chest and nothing after that until just a moment ago. He felt stronger somehow, not in the Force, for that was gone, he knew there had to be ysalamiri somewhere nearby, but his muscles, they seemed unnaturally strong.

The other man was not quite so afraid as was feeling curious as well, but he restrained it better than most.

"You have been brought here for one purpose: to serve me. Anakin Solo and Anakin Skywalker. I have used the Force to restore your consciousness to new bodies. Skywalker, you may recall that your vaunted Emperor did the same thing with an engineer. Bevel Lemelisk, was it?" the voice coming from the intercom seemed eager, but foreboding.

"I realize you have a lot to think about, but I have brought you here for some tests, just to see how well the techs performed in reincarnating you. You will find you are stronger. We used chemical injections that have enhanced your strength and reflexes. Your bones have been coated with a layer of durasteel, making them virtually unbreakable." The two Espo guards tossed some vibroswords to them and stood back. Two Duelist Elites walked out of a hidden door in the wall, also brandishing vibroswords. "Defeat the droids and we will let you go to your quarters."

Anakin Solo started to tell the voice where he could stick the vibrosword, but Skywalker nudged him. "Wait. When they let us go to our quarters, maybe we can get some time together. I've got some questions for you Solo, so play along with it for now. We cover each other. Got it?"

"I'm not taking orders from a former Sith Lord."

"Consider them to be from your grandfather then!"

Anakin began to say no, but the droids began to advance, their blades on. Both Anakins turned on their vibroswords and prepared for the fight. When the Elites pressed, Solo dodged nimbly from the way and moved in for what would have been a killing blow for a person, but the Elite blocked it. Somehow, though, Anakin's enhanced strength overpowered the droid's arm and forced it to bend at an odd angle.

He looked over at Anakin Skywalker's droid and saw a sparking stump where its head should have been.

"Excellent," said the man over the intercom. "The guards will escort you to your rooms. You'll be forced to give up your vibroswords though."

The Anakins looked at each other and dropped their weapons. In return, the guards walked them through the halls to the pilot quarters. They were given and room and left, with the door locked.

There were still ysalamiri, since neither Anakin could feel the Force.

"Tell me grandson, what has taken place since my death?" 


	2. Escape

Chapter 2

  
  


"I know how you repented and turned away from the dark side, but how can I be sure?" I was a few days later and Anakin Solo was still interrogating his reincarnated grandfather.

"I tossed Palpatine into the Death Star's main reactor. And then I-"

The door opened. "Get up!" ordered the Espo. "Lord Garinoska wants you for lightsaber training."

Anakin Skywalker shot his grandson a look that said "It's time."

They got into the training room and found two lightsabers waiting for them. There were also about twenty Espos, but both Anakin Solo and Skywalker knew they wouldn't have a chance.

"Activate your lightsabers," ordered Garinoska over the intercom. They did and two red columns of light sprang up with the usual snap-hiss. 

"Now grandson!" They turned so their backs were facing each other and then began to lash out at the guards. A dead guard's blaster bolt hit one of the glow panels and everything went black, except for the two lightsaber blades and blaster flashes. But the blasters were shooting less and less.

***

  
  


Up in the control room, Garinoska fumed. "What is going on down there? Switch the surveillance cameras over to infrared."

"I can't my Lord," answered the tech at the computer.

Garinoska pressed a button on his comlink and alarm klaxons began blaring all over the ship.

***

  
  


"Come on! Cut down the door." Both the Jedi moved to where they remembered the exit to be. They hacked it down and bright light flooded in from the corridor.

"Follow me!" said Skywalker. "The hangers are this way!"

"How do you know?" shouted Anakin Solo as he ran.

"We're on a Super Star Destroyer, like the Lusankya."

Once they were about a hundred meters from the training room, they felt the ysalamiris' influence fade. With the Force at their sides, none of the guards could stop them. 

The hanger was bustling with activity. There were ships of all sorts there. "There!" said Anakin Skywalker. "That shuttle there! Go I'll follow you up!" They ran at a sprint towards the shuttle, deflecting blaster bolts as they went.

The shuttle was an older model Lambda-class, but judging from the amount of laser cannons on it was the military model, which meant it would have reinforced shields that out to hold against some fighters until they could jump into hyperspace.

"You man the guns!" called Skywalker.

"I'm already in the pilot's chair!" yelled his grandson as he powered up the ship. There was no time to prep the ship. "Shields are up and we're on our way outta here!"

Anakin immediately began to dodge incoming ion cannon fire while the former Sith Lord plotted a hyperspace course.

"All right, punch it!" Anakin pushed the lever forward and the stars stretched out into nothingness.

***

  
  


On the bridge of the Planet Slayer, Captain Derner turned his head as Lord Garinoska moved towards the gunnery officer. A scream rang out across the bridge, then all was silent, except for the hum of the SSD's engines.

***

  
  
  
  


Mon Calamari 

Colonel Jaina Solo Fel looked up at the sky as a flight of X-wings flew by, followed by a half dozen freighters.

"Tighten up three flight," she said into her comlink. "You're embarrassing."

"Sorry Lead. Will do."

After the Yuuzhan Vong had been vanquished, her Twin Suns squadron had been assigned to Gavin Darklighter's new wing, along with the Rogues and her husband Jag's Vanguard squadron. They had been traveling the galaxy, escorting shipments of supplies to planets all over the Alliance.

"Bit harsh on your pilots Sticks?"

Jaina turned around the face General Darklighter. "Not at all Gen-"

"That's Gavin"

"-Gavin. Just bored, I guess. I've been demanding too much in the way of perfection from these pilots."

"I did the same thing the first time we had a long stretch of peace after I inherited the Rogues. Inyri was about ready to kill me."

"Maybe I'll ease up a little-Anakin!" she gasped. The everything seemed to blur after that and the last thing Jaina remembered was Gavin yelling into his comlink.

***

  
  


Alliance Council Building on Mon Calamari

Leia Organa Solo was in her office, reading the report Admiral Kre'fey had given her on the state of the Shamed One colonies at Myrkr and Wayland. A group of Yuuzhan Vong Shamed Ones had risen up against their masters and taken control of a small worldship, one that had become instrumental in the fight against the Vong. Most were distrustful of the Shamed Ones, but the Jedi and the military had supported them and helped them get their own settlements.

"I'm going to have to-Anakin?" The world started to spin and go dark. 

***

Jedi Temple on Borleias

Luke Skywalker, his wife Mara Jade Skywalker both felt Anakin reopen his Force connections to all of them. In his room, the three year old Ben began to cry.

  
  


***Jacen Solo was at the new Jedi Temple on Borleias, teaching a group of youngsters how use training lightsabers when Anakin's voice filled his head. "Ahh!" he collapsed in shock and blacked out from the sudden surge in the Force. Anakin was back.


	3. Homecoming

Chapter 3

  
  


Anakin? rang Luke Skywalker's voice in his head.

It's me, Uncle Luke, Anakin Solo replied.

What happened? You...well...died.

I've been resurrected by a guy named Lord Garinoska. They did the same thing to him that they did to Bevel Lemelisk. I'm guess he's a Sith. Where are you?

Borleias.

I'll find you there.

Anakin! Wait!

But he was already gone, invisible to Luke through the Force.

***

When the shuttle entered the Pyria system, they found a wing of X-wings waiting for them. "Approaching shuttle, this is Rogue Leader. Follow us down to Borleias."

Anakin responded with a click on his comm. He had not talked to anyone except his grandfather since his Force conversation with Luke.

He brought the shuttle down in a and landed on a platform that was set above a small cluster of buildings. He waited a few moments and saw his mother, father, Jacen, Jaina, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, little Ben Skywalker, Jag Fel, Wedge, Colonel Celch, Wes Janson, and most of the other Jedi he had known. Then someone stepped out of the crowd of Jedi. Tahiri. She looked skeptical. 

Anakin turned and said, "Grandfather, I think it would be best for you to wait here a moment."

"Got it."

Anakin Solo hit the button for the ramp and watched the bright sunlight filter into the shuttle. He walked slowly, eyes scanning the crowd for weapons. Wait, what am I doing that for? I shouldn't be concerned about whether or not my friends and family are carrying weapons. He supposed it must have been an instinct that the techs aboard the Super Star Destroyer had implanted in him.

Finally, he couldn't wait any longer. He broke for his parents at a sprint.

When he finally got moment, he shouted towards the shuttle, "Come on out!"

A pair of feet appeared at the top of the ramp and began to march down, capturing everyone's attention. Clad in a black robe he had found in the shuttle, he strode towards Luke, the robe swirling around him in the slight breeze.

"It would appear that I'm am able to look upon you again with my own eyes, my son."

Everyone present paled.

  
  


***

Twelve hours later, both Anakins were still in debriefing, with a council of Jedi and a few officers from Alliance Intelligence.

"It would appear that you are who you say you are, both of you. Skywalker, keep you true identity quiet. It would anger some to realize that Darth Vader is still alive."

The door to the room opened and both men walked out. It had been a long twelve hours and both of them were looking forward to getting some rack time.

Anakin Solo headed off to spend some time with his family, while Anakin Skywalker headed towards the hanger, looking for General Darklighter. He found the General with his feet sticking out of the bottom of his XJ5 X-wing.

"Ah, General?"

"Yeah?" came the muffled reply.

"I'm looking for a place in one of your squadrons."

Gavin climbed out of the X-wing. "Skywalker? I've got to say, I don't really trust the man who was Darth Vader, but Luke and Leia trust you, so that's good enough for now. Lemme get some of my pilots together and we'll put you through the Redemption scenario. It's old, but challenging, so we'll give it a try. You alright flying an XJ5?"

"Colonel, I've been dead for more than twenty years. I'm not current on the most recent models of X-wings, nor am I officially certified to fly an older one, but I think you'll find I'm a decent pilot."

"Alright."

***

Twenty minutes later, Anakin was in the cockpit of the X-wing sim. On his wing was a novice pilot in Vanguard squadron. "Two, on me."

"Copy Gold one."

Anakin flew towards the formation of Ties. There was maybe a full wing of them, Interceptors and bombers. "Two, watch my back, and take shots when you get them. Play evasive and I'll play aggressive. Got it?"

"As ordered Lead."

"Good. Let's get hit the dupes first. After the dupes are gone, the Interceptors can't kill the cruiser, at least not without losing the majority of their flyers. You ready? You better be. Fire away."

***

Outside in the simulator's observation room, Gavin watched as one by one, Skywalker vaped his pilots. He checked the board. Thirty percent of the Interceptors were destroyed and almost all of the bombers were gone.

Finally, ten minutes later, they were all gone. Skywalker had gotten twenty kills, with his wingmate getting the rest, and most of the shots the Vanguard pilot had gotten had been set up by Skywalker.

Skywalker emerged from the simulator cockpit grinning. "Vaping moffs. You beat the best we have. One of the 'Suns broke his leg hopping out of his X-wing, so your Twin Suns Nine for now, in command of Three Flight. Come with me. I'll show you to your ship. 


	4. Blame and Lecturing

Chapter 4

Han Solo rocketed through hyperspace on the Millennium Falcon, with Anakin at his side. Leia hadn't come with them on this trip. She was becoming increasingly bogged down with work forming a replacement for the New Republic and the current Alliance.

"Anakin," said Han, "we've got to talk. There was something I never got to tell you before you died. I don't blame you for Chewie's death. It was the Vong. And I made them regret it. At the Second Battle at Coruscant, we ended up invading the planet. On the ground we faced thousands of Yuuzhan-Vong warriors.

"That day, I saw a different side to all of our family members, one I rarely see. I was sort of a tag-along, since I couldn't use the Force. But I had insisted on going. I wanted to see the fall of the Vong. And I wished that you and Chewie were with me. I had always thought Chewie and me would have gone out in the blaze of glory, vaping Ties before finally taking one too many laser blasts. Instead, we ended up in the Rebellion. Right before Sernpidal, he was thinking of taking a trip to see his family on Kashyyyk. But then I decided to fly out to Dubrillion, and he came with me. And he got killed by an enemy he never got to face.

"I've wondered everyday since what would have happened if we had gone to Kashyyyk. Would Chewie still be alive? I don't know." Han grinned the famous Solo grin and said, "I guess I just wanted you to know that I don't blame you for him dying. I guess I got a little off topic."

There was silence for a moment. Then Anakin spoke. "I know, Dad."

***

Back at Borleias, there was nothing exciting going on. And the Fels loved it. Jaina and most of her squadron were sitting at table in a tapcaf in the Jedi Temple. Jag was sitting next to her, sipping some Whyren's Reserve and listening to Captain Anakin "Starkiller" tell the newer 'Suns about flying Ties in sims.

"Now, I fought a few of you guys a week or so ago, and I've found that almost none of you knew how to fly a Tie as good as you could fly an X-wing."

"But we're not supposed to."

"Right. But I've had to fly Ties a lot in the past. First, I noticed most of you tended to group up a bit and try to overwhelm us. That's what the Empire did, and their Starfighter corp had an extremely low survival rate. You've got to fly like the wind, because with the Tie's lack of shields, just a grazing shot with a laser cannon might kill you."

"But-"

"No buts." Anakin continued. "You get a hole in one of the solar panels, especially in atmosphere, you'll be spinning your way out of battle. And you usually end up dead when that happens.

"Now your gonna say, 'Why use Ties at all if their so weak?' The reason is because of their speed and maneuverability. You ever see a Defender fly? Those things got X-wings, even XJ5s, beat to stardust. They're faster, more maneuverable, more heavily armed, and they have shields and a hyperdrive."

"Not to be rude Captain, but why are you telling us this?"

"Just thinking back to old times, I guess. And if the CSA goes on the offensive, I'm giving you guys an idea of what you're up against. So-"

Jag and Jaina's comlinks beeped.

"Jaina, Jag, bring the 'Suns into the hanger. Something big's happened. Jag, I've already got the Vanguards down here," ordered Gavin.

"Copy Gavin. We're on our way." She clicked the comlink off. "Your heard him people, let's go."


	5. Dueling and Gambling

Chapter 5

The Twin Suns scrambled over to the hanger. Gavin stood on a cargo crate, and the rest of the pilot's in Rogue Wing were gathered around him. "The CSA has attacked Mon Calamari. We just got word. We're being sent in on the 'Roost, along with the Mon Mothma, Rebel Dream, and Elegos A'kla. Jaina, your mother was on Wayland at the time of the attack, so she's okay. Shortly after the attack, the Corporate Sector Authority pulled out. Their exit vector was most likely to a system called Mytus VII. Captain Solo has told us that it's devoid of life except for an Authority prison called Star's End, which he and Chewbacca destroyed many years ago." We're heading to a planet called Kamar. The our scouts show that the indigenous species of the Kamar were wiped out by the CSA to put an end to their cult worship of water." Several of the pilots chuckled.

Anakin looked over the group as General Darklighter continued. There were only three Jedi in the whole wing, himself, Jaina, and a man of about eighteen, Requiem, they called him. Anakin guessed it was a nickname for Reqninz. They boy had joined the fighter corp at fourteen, when good pilots were at a premium. He had studied under Kam Solusar in the Maw for a while before Kam wore thin and let the boy go to Borleias.

Jaina was worried about her parents, and Requiem wasn't showing any motion, even in the Force. Anakin felt shock, worry, and anger rolling off of the other pilots.

"Alright then?" General Darklighter finished. "You've got fifteen minutes before liftoff. Pack your things."

***

The trip to Kamar gave Anakin time to work on his lightsaber. He had gotten the parts from Luke at the Temple. They occasionally dropped out of hyperspace and went on X-wing patrol, but that didn't happen very often.

He spent the rest of his time simming against the rest of the wing, continuing his informal TIE fighter school. 

When they arrived at Kamar, the Mon Mothma deployed a prefabricated garrison and the techs began building a hanger facility. For the time being, Rogue Wing was based on the Ralroost.

Anakin was spending all of his time working on his lightsaber when he wasn't on patrol. Finally, a week after the small fleet had arrived at Kamar, Anakin stood in the 'Roost's gymnasium, holding the hilt of his lightsaber.

It was shaped like the one he had lost at Endor, but a silvery metal rather than black, like the old one. It did not look like someone had stuck it in an oven and left it there too long, but like someone had scraped all the charring off and repainted it silver. In fact, the two lightsabers were exactly the same except for coloration.

Anakin pressed the activation stud and watched the pure silver blade spring up with a snap-hiss. He swung it around a little bit, then he deactivated it and pulled out his comlink. "'Suns Nine to Lead. If you are not occupied at the moment would you please report to the man exercise room? Thank you." And he waited.

***

Jaina was in the pilot's lounge with Jag, when the comlink beeped.

"'Suns Nine to Lead. If you are not occupied at the moment would you please report to the man exercise room? Thank you," came her grandfather's voice.

"I'll be right there." She switched the comlink off.

"Your grandfather?"

"Yeah."

"Sithspit," said Jag. "We get so little time together and...oh forget it. I'm being selfish. You'd never met him before a few weeks ago. Sorry."

"That's alright." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and got up. "I'll see you at evening meal." 

***

Jaina walked into the gym and saw her grandfather waiting, wearing the black flightsuit he had gotten on the Planet Slayer. He was holding something. A lightsaber.

"You finished it."

"Yes," he replied. "I'm sorry for interrupting you and Colonel Fel."

Jaina looked shocked for a moment and then she smiled. "Did you want me to duel?"

"Yes. I have. It had been a long time since I fought someone with a lightsaber. Nearly thirty years. It was your Uncle."

"I know. He's told us the story a million times."

"Any, I wanted you to be the first to duel me, not some droid. What happened on that SSD doesn't count. It wasn't my lightsaber." He ignited the blade, and Jaina followed. "Tell me if I'm going to hard on you."

Jaina raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'll be easy prey?" she asked as they circled.

***

"Hey! Come quick!" yelled a gunnery officer as he burst into the main cafeteria. "Colonel Solo Fel is dueling Captain Starkiller!" He pressed a button on the remote he held, and the holo-projector in the middle of the cafeteria switched from one of Wolam Tser's documentaries to the surveillance camera's view of the gym. As the battle began to heat up, so did the attitude in the cafeteria. There was furious gambling, with just about everyone present placing a bet on the outcome.

Shouts of, "I'll give you three to one on Fel! A hundred credits!" and, "I'll take that bet!" rang out all over the room. At the back of the cafeteria, Jag and Gavin watched carefully, evaluating both combatants' performances.

"It's Jaina," said Jag, even though he felt otherwise. He didn't want to face the wrath of his wife, especially while Jaina's adopted 'uncle' Wes Janson as Colonel Celchu's XO down on the base, which was nearing completion. Janson was a notorious prankster and Jag knew she would get some help from him if she learned Jag had bet against her.

So he sat back and watched.

***

Perspiration ran down Jaina's forehead as she parried yet another blow. Anakin was sweating as well, but he kept firing off attacks, keeping Jaina off her guard.

As Anakin swung again, Jaina flipped back and inhaled, then she came forward in a furious assault, not relenting she moved her blade in for the killing blow, and Anakin jumped over her and had his lightsaber at the back of her neck before she had finished the move. "I win."

Both deactivated their lightsabers and shook hands. "Now if you'll excuse me, I ought to take a shower," he said, wiping sweat from his face. "You probably should too. I'll see you tomorrow Jaina."

She nodded and they exited the gym, each heading for their quarters, exhausted from their fight. Jaina took a look at her chrono. The fight had lasted a full hour.

***

Back in the cafeteria, the winners were dividing the pool among themselves and gloating at the losers. Jag smiled. Knowing Jaina, she would run the 'winners' in her squadron ragged when she found out who had bet against her. Same old Jaina.


	6. Outsider

Chapter 6

Lord Garinoska stood in the observation room at the top of the tower at Star's End. He had had it rebuilt immediately after he gained power. Most of the prisoners were opponents of his that had gone on leave and had just 'disappeared.'

"You know Captain Derner, that right now there is a Rebel fleet somewhere in the Corporate Sector? And do you know who is a prominent member of that fleet?"

"Anakin Skywalker, my lord?"

"Yes, he is and everything is ready. I meant for them to escape, you realize that, correct?"

"I had my theories, my lord," replied the Captain.

"Good. I had them implanted with tracking devices."

"My lord, they must certainly have found them-"

"No they haven't. They're not electronic." Garinoska opened his palm and revealed a small rock. "This is a Yuuzhan Vong creature. They pinpoint the locations of their siblings. They were mostly used during the war on a smaller scale, but I bribed a Shaper of the Shamed Ones to shape this for me. It shows wherever the it's counterpart has traveled through hyperspace."

"I see my lord."

"They are at Kamar."

***

Anakin Solo sat in his quarters on Borleias. Tahiri had gone off on a Jedi mission, so she was nowhere to be found. He had spent some time exploring Temple, but now he was just bored. He decided to go to his Uncle Luke's quarters and find the holos of Jaina's wedding, the one he never saw. He found R2-D2 wandering the halls of the Temple on his way there. Anakin brought the little droid with him, hoping that Artoo could bypass Uncle Luke's security measures.

He got to Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara's room and rang the room's buzzer. No one answered after few moments so Anakin told Artoo, "Open the door please Artoo."

Artoo whistled a reply.

"They won't mind. I'll tell them the next time I see them. I'm just going to borrow their holos of Jaina's wedding."

Artoo beeped the equivalent to 'fine' and opened the opened the locks. He saw a shelf with a bunch of holo player discs on it. He found the ones of Jaina's wedding and was walking out the door when he ran into Mara.

"Oh, hi Aunt Mara."

"Anakin. Snooping around?" She looked at him and then smiled.

"No, not really. I'm just borrowing Jaina's wedding holos, that's all. There was no one here, so I had Artoo unlock the door for me. I was going to tell you the next time I saw you, since I figured you might be busy."

Anakin marched back to his quarters and played the holos, watching his family celebrate and be happy. Jaina and Jag were in bliss, and even Jacen who had been extremely somber and quiet in the few years before Anakin had died was happy, once again telling bad jokes and grinning the lopsided grin that the Solo clan was famous for.

As he watched, he felt out of place, like he didn't belong. It was strange. He had usually been in the middle of things, but now he was more of an outsider.


	7. Retreat

Chapter 7

  
  


The duels in the gyms became more regular after the Rogues, 'Suns, and Vanguards got garrisoned on Kamar, and the betting continued. Eventually they started transmitting the fights up to the capitol ships in orbit. Even Requiem had joined in. One day as Anakin was watching Requiem and Jaina duel, alarms began started to ring and all pilots were being called to their ships.

Anakin ran to the hanger and climbed into his X-wing he did a quick pre-flight check as the techs finished loading his R2 and unplugging the fuel lines. The other pilots in the wing were doing the same.

"Okay Twins Suns, report in," ordered Jaina over the comm as they lifted off.

The 'Suns went down the list and moved into formation as they exited the atmosphere. Anakin checked his sensor readings and cursed. There was a fleet of five ImpStar Deuces.

"Lead, Nine. Orders?"

"Keep the snubfighters off of our capital ships," ordered Jaina.

"Twins Suns, this is Colonel Celchu. We're evacuating. There's too many Destroyers. Escort the transports and head to the coordinates we're sending you now."

"As ordered Colonel."

"You heard him Three Flight," said Anakin as he turned around towards where the transports were lifting off. "Break into wing pairs and cover the transports. Remember what I told you about TIEs. Starkiller out."

Anakin saw a wing of eyeballs and clutches swoop down over the base, spraying emerald death over the desert sky.

"Ten, you're leading."

"As ordered Nine."

Anakin's wingmate took the lead and went in after a flight of TIEs, blasting her lasers on dual fire mode. She hit one of the TIEs where the solar panel attached to the wing and sent it spinning off into the ground.

"Sithspawn! We've got four clutches on our backs!" cursed Ten.

Eleven and Twelve looped around onto the tri-fighters' tails, but by then, the four clutches had overpowered Ten's shields with a burst of laser fire.

Anakin felt his wingmate's final cry through the Force. He stretched out with his senses and began moving with the enemy pilots, sensing when they were going to fire and juking out of the way at the last second. Two of the tri-fighters had been vaped by Eleven and Twelve. He decelerated sharply and caused the clutches to shoot forward. They must have been rookies flying the things, since that was easily the oldest trick there was for evading starfighter pursuit. Anakin quickly let off a quad burst into one of the clutches, obliterating its top wing and sending it careening into the other clutch.

Jaina's voice came over the comm. "Suns, the transports are away. Head out to the coordinates Colonel Celchu sent you. See you at the rendezvous."

Anakin cleared Kamar's gravity well and pushed the hyperspace lever forward and checked where he was going. Myrkr. The home of the Shamed Ones.

***

On Borleias, Anakin waited on the landing pad. Tahiri was coming back from a mission. He scanned the skies for the YT-2400 freighter she was flying.

He found the disc-shaped freighter floating down on its repulsors from the east. He waited as the ship shut-down and the ramp extended. Tahiri marched down, wearing the garish orange flight suit that was worn by Rebellion pilots. A blaster hung low on her left hip and her lightsaber was on her right. She looked remarkably like the Tahiri he had seen in a vision on Yavin Four.

"Tahiri."

"Anakin."

Anakin strode towards her, his black Jedi robes flowing around him, almost making it look as if he was flying. "You've been avoiding me." He sounded hurt.

The only time Tahiri had heard him like this was right after Chewie died. "Well, I've kind of been afraid. You were dead for years. Were we supposed to pick up where we left off?"

"I was sort of hoping to."

"I've changed so much since you died. For a while, I was a real loner, shutting everyone out. I've moved on a little bit, you know?"

Anakin nodded and started to turn around.

"Wait. That doesn't mean we can't start over again." She grinned, for once looking like the old Tahiri. "My last boyfriend turned out to be a sociopath. After him, you ought to be a welcome change."

Anakin once again was reminded of all he had missed. He moved closer to Tahiri and said, "You have any cargo that needs unloading or anything?"

"Yes," she replied. "I've got a load of simulator packages to be delivered to the base. I figure you can help me move them." Anakin put his arm around her and together they headed for the ship's cargo bay.


	8. Intervention

Chapter 8

Anakin Skywalker watched as Myrkr came into view. He had never liked the planet, and the fact that the Vong had killed his grandson there during the war didn't make matters any better.

A Yuuzhan Vong worldship slowly came into view from the night side of the planet. "Sithspit! Those Vong ships are ugly!" he muttered to himself. He had seen holos of the ships and simmed against Vong ships, but that wasn't like seeing them in real life.

"Suns, group up around the Ralroost," ordered Jaina. As Anakin moved into position, a Lambda-class shuttle launched from the Mon Mothma's main landing bay. He assumed it was carrying the taskforce leaders, General Antilles and Colonel Celchu.

A quartet of skips detached from the world ships and escorted the shuttle down to the planet.

"Lead, Nine. What are we doing here?" Anakin called over the comm.

"We're asking for some worldships to go with us to fight the CSA."

"Oh. Understood lead." 

Anakin thought about that for a while. A million questions popped up in his head. How will they communicate with us? How will they fuel themselves? Anakin shoved those thoughts out of his head when a warning light started flashing red on his control panel.

"By all that makes a Hutt ugly!" 

The CSA fleet had dropped out of hyperspace practically on top of the Rebellion fleet. "Three flight! Keep their fighters off of the shuttle Rebel Truimph. We've got to make sure General Antilles and Colonel Celchu get back to their ships," ordered Jaina.

"Rebellion forces! This is Warmaster Vrisqi Kla, of the Yuuzhan Vong Colony Defense Forces. We will be glad to assist you in your battle against the Corporate Sector Authority! Another worldship is heading here from the night side of the planet, as are several mataloks and other support vessels. May Yun-Yuuzhan bless you! Death and dismemberment to your enemies!"

That was strange, thought Anakin. The worldship began to close in on the CSA fleets and send plasma blasts its way. All the while, coralskippers continued to detach from the ship. 

Anakin raced towards the shuttle and the four TIEs pursuing it. "Kind of remind you of the Adumari, eh Hobbie?" came Wes Janson's voice over the comm. Anakin looked out to starboard and saw Janson's X-wing painted a blinding yellow, with black stripes at even intervals across the S-foils. Next to it, Hobbie Klivian's X-wing was all black, with the Rogue Squadron crest on the side in blood-red paint.

"Yeah, don't remind me. I've forgiven Wedge for putting us in women's clothing," Hobbie replied mournfully.

Anakin grinned and targeted a TIE. Switching to proton torpedoes, he kept on him for a lock. When his R2 chimed a notification he had succeeded, he pulled the trigger and two lances of blue light hurtled through space at the TIE. Hobbie and Janson took out two more and Twin Suns Twelve had taken out the last one.

"Sithspit!" someone yelled over the comm. A clutch had latched onto Twelve and was following the kid's every move.

"Hang on Twelve. I'm on the way," said Anakin through clenched teeth. Twelve was eighteen, a hotshot bush pilot from the Outer Rim. Too young to die, thought Anakin.

Finally the tri-fighter triggered a laser burst which completely destroyed the rear third of the X-wing. Anakin grimaced as he prepared to hear the kid die, but then he saw the cockpit fill with flames from the ejection chair as it shot off into space.

"Twin Suns Twelve is extra-vehicular! Twelve is EV!"

"Got it Starkiller," said Tycho Celchu. "We'll bring the shuttle around and pick him up. Provided you and those two yokels you're flying with can keep the TIEs off of us while we do it."

"Hey!" Janson said indignantly.

But the need for defending the shuttle disappeared as the TIEs veered off and raced for their Star Destroyers as the remaining Destroyers themselves began maneuvering to go to lightspeed.

Anakin gave chase and got a few more TIEs before the CSA fleet jumped out of system.

The normally silent Requiem let out a whoop. "We showed them!"

"Neg the comclutter Five! You're not fourteen anymore," said Jaina, but her tone wasn't really scolding. She actually sounded exuberant as well.

Wedge's voice crackled over the comm. "We're heading to Commenor. Warmaster, woud you mind waiting here for a week or two? We need some time to resupply what we lost at Kamar."

"Not at all, General. The Colony Defense Fleet is at your disposal. We shall be on the lookout for Corporate Sector Authority activity. General Antilles, if I may, could I have an audience with you and the one called Anakin Starkiller. It is of the utmost importance, concerning the safety of you and your fleet."

"That would be fine. We could use a few hours to regroup before we head for Commenor. Would you mind meeting me on the Mon Mothma in an hour?"

"That will be fine. Warmaster out."


	9. Meetings

Chapter 9

Anakin and General Antilles waited in a conference room aboard the Mon Mothma. The door slid open and two Rebellion guards walked in, flanking the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster. Vrisqi Kla was different from the Vong Wedge had fought before. For one, his body wasn't mutilated like those of the most high-ranking Yuuzhan Vong. Two, he didn't seem totally disgusted by being aboard a Star Destroyer.

"Greetings General Antilles. It has been a while." Kla extended his right hand, which Wedge shook cautiously.

The Warmaster turned and bowed to Anakin. "My Lord Vader."

"I'm Captain Starkiller now, sir."

Vrisqi Kla nodded. "I have some grave news for both of you. One of our shapers, blinded by greed, shaped a creature that shows where its siblings have traveled recently in darkspace. He sold this creature, along with its siblings, to a Vakir Garinoska. The shaper is dead now, found to be guilty by a military tribunal. We believe Garinoska implanted one of the creature's siblings in you and the Jeedai Anakin Solo. It is said Jeedai cannot feel a Yuuzhan-Vong or his creations in the, how do you say it, Force, yes that's it, Force. Search yourself with the Force and you will find an empty spot."

Anakin did so and said, "Thank you, Warmaster."

"I can have it killed now. The shaper left a 'failsafe.' In the event of Garinoska losing, he could kill the creatures, forcing them to ooze out of the skin. I can do this for you."

"No thank you, Warmaster. I think having this alive will allow us to ambush Garinoska's forces. A Rebellion surgeon can extract it."

Vrisqi Kla shrugged. "That would be fine. I look forward to seeing you both soon." The Yuuzhan Vong bowed and walked out.

"I can't say I really feel the same about seeing him soon," said Anakin to Wedge.

"No, I can't either. The Vong are pretty strange. But they helped us out today, which is something."

Anakin nodded. "Well sir, when do I report to the med bay?"

"Now. And afterwards, if you're feeling up to it, I'll buy drinks for the pilots that saved my life out there today. How's that sound?"

"Very good sir."

"Alright." Wedge saluted, and Anakin returned it and walked off towards the medical bay. 


	10. Old Friends

Chapter 10

After the operation, Anakin watched as the a team of scientists clad in vac suits stood in the hanger, encasing the creature in a message pod, one that would be sent into orbit around Myrkr. The Yuuzhan Vong had agreed to keep the transmitter creature in their system so that the CSA would believe that the fleet was still there.

Anakin stared as the hanger was opened to vacuum and the message pod sucked out. He was glad the thing was out of him, but knowing there had been one thing implanted in him made him wonder if there had been others. He had been noticing little things wherever he went. Like when he looked at someone, he instinctively knew their approximate height and weight, and whether or not they were armed.

Then again, he thought, all of that might be from before.

He thought about that for a moment and then turned away from the observation chamber, heading for the pilot's lounge where Wedge was buying drinks for him, Janson, and Hobbie.

*** 

Jacen Solo wiped sweat out of his eyes and flicked it from his fingers, all the while watching his little brother move. The kid was good. It had been years since they had dueled for fun, even before Anakin had died. And Anakin hadn't usually been able to beat him. Now, Anakin was deflecting every one of Jacen's blows, keeping the older Jedi back. 

Anakin was batting the attacks away with surprising strength. He had overpowered Jacen every time they locked lightsabers. Jacen backed up and deactivated his lightsaber. "You win, for now. I've got a trainees to teach."

Anakin nodded. "That's fine. Dad's going on a run deep into the Corporate Sector, to look up an old friend who used to be well connected."

"All right. If I don't see you before you leave, good luck."

"Thanks Jacen. See you later."

Both the Jedi left the sparring chamber and went their separate ways.

***

"Hurry up and get those crates loaded Anakin," Han's voice floated down from the Falcon's cockpit.

"Dad, what exactly do you have in them?"

"Our disguises. Now bring that last one up."

It was a few hours later and Han and Anakin were almost ready to depart for the Corporate Sector.

Anakin was walking up the ramp carrying the last crate when something hit him from behind. Instantly, he turned and had his blaster pointed at the person who ambushed him.

"Hey, why don't you go point that thing somewhere else?" shouted Tahiri.

"Sorry Tahiri," he said as he put the blaster back in the quick-draw holster he wore low on his hip. "I was about to go say good-bye to you."

"You don't have to. I'm coming with you, and so is Master Jade. I asked Master Skywalker and your father, and both agreed to us coming. Your Aunt Mara is good at finding people that don't want to be found, probably almost as good as your dad."

Anakin nodded at her. "Well, you better get packed because we're lifting off pretty soon."

"Already done. Master Jade will be along in a few minutes. She's saying good by the Ben."

Anakin nodded again and said, "Come on up then. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

***

The long trip to Etti IV was uneventful. Anakin spent most of his time teaching Tahiri dejarik and playing sabacc with Mara. 

About twenty minutes before coming out of hyperspace, Han gathered his crew in the lounge. "Alright," he said as he moved to sit down on the dejarik board, "here's the plan: Anakin and me will go dirtside and check with a few old friends. Mara, Tahiri, I'm sorry for having to leave you behind like this, but your disguises aren't as good, and I need some one to watch the ship and keep it ready to lift off. Yeah, the ship's under a false transponder signal, but I wouldn't be too surprised if someone recognizes her. Everyone got it?"

"What 'old friends' might we be seeing?"

"I'm going to have a chat with Ploovo Two-For-One."

"Oh. You sure he'll be happy to see you?" Anakin asked doubtfully.

Han flashed his famous lopsided grin. "Trust me on this one."

"Do we have a choice?" remarked Mara.


	11. Return

Chapter 11

The Falcon had made it down to Etti IV's surface without incident. Anakin and Han left the ship, their blasters' power packs being drained. Anakin's lightsaber was hidden up his sleeve.

As they headed for the Free-Flight Dance Dome, Ploovo Two-For-One's headquarters, Anakin scratched at the goatee he had grown. He was wearing a black flightsuit that contrasted sharply with his dyed blonde hair. Han was dressed similarly, but his hair remained its normal color. The most major difference was the fake cybernetic eye he wore. The disguises had worked; the customs officials hadn't recognized either one of them.

"I'm amazed this place is still in business. Although the last time I was here it wasn't owned by Ploovo," he said.

Anakin just nodded as they came up to the entrance to the Dance Dome. Two bouncers blocked the door as Han and Anakin approached. "Identification," said one of them in a bass rumble.

Han reached for his pocket but Anakin stopped him. "You don't need to see our identification," he said calmly.

"We don't need to see your identification."

"We may enter."

"You may enter." The two bouncers stepped aside and let Han and Anakin in.

Han stared at Anakin. "We could have just given them our identification."

Anakin shook his head. "It's better that they don't know our aliases at all. Yeah, I know Booster made them with the Errant Venture's document printers, but they would discover the Falcon's not really the Princess of Blood very easily."

Han nodded and gestured towards a rather obese older man surrounded by beautiful women and bodyguards. "That's Ploovo. They armed? The weapons scanner on this eye isn't working real well, either have jammers or it's defective. I'll have to talk to Face Loran about that."

Anakin looked over Ploovo Two-For-One's entourage, scanning them for weapons. "All of the women have concealed vibroshivs hidden in scabbards on their thighs. The bodyguards all have blasters and probably vibroblades. Ploovo himself is unarmed." Anakin shrugged. "I could be wrong of course."

"Too late now," said Han as he strode towards Ploovo. He stopped a few feet from the gangster and said coldly, "Hello Ploovo."

Ploovo Two-For-One stared at Han for a moment and then paled. "Han Solo?"


	12. Trouble

Chapter 12

"Yeah. It's me. Been a while, eh, colleague?"

"It has. What in the name of Sith are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for information. I want to know where Jessa and Doc are."

Anakin watched silently as Ploovo wondered whether he should help them. "Alright. I'll tell. Jessa is on-"

Suddenly a lightsaber sprang up, its blade ending six centimeters from Ploovo's face. "He's lying," said Anakin, his voice icy cold.

"Ah, ah, I'll tell you Jedi, just get that lightsaber away from my face."

Anakin deactivated his blade, but did not move the hilt.

"As far as I know," continued Ploovo, "Doc died a few years back, and Jessa's on Tyrine V."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Han looked at Anakin. "He telling the truth?" Anakin started to say "Yes," but Han's comlink beeped.

One of Ploovo's thugs took advantage of Han's distraction, drawing his blaster and aiming it at Han's head. Anakin saw it happen and struck the man's forearm with the blade of his hand, shattering the thug's the bones and causing him to drop the blaster. He hadn't even hit the ground before the other thugs began to draw their blasters and vibroblades. Ploovo began to back away slowly, but Han lunged at him. Within ten seconds, all of the gangster's bodyguards were one the floor, bleeding from dozens of wounds and clutching broken bones, provided they weren't unconscious.

"Nice doing business with you Ploovo," said Han casually as he picked up an unconscious guard's blaster and power packs.

Anakin did the same and both father and son walked towards the exits. Han put his comlink to his mouth. "Mara? Sorry about that. We had a little, ah, distraction."

Mara's voice came back sounding extremely working. "Get back to the ship. Now."

***

Anakin was lying in the Falcon's small medical station, heavily sedated. "Anakin, can you put yourself into a trance?" While Han and Anakin had been talking with Ploovo, Tahiri and Mara received a transmission from Anakin Skywalker, telling them about the Yuuzhang Vong tracking creature. Mara was going to take it out as Han took care of a few loose ends with Tahiri. 

He nodded slightly. "Good. I'm going to be quick about this. By the time you wake up, we ought to be on the way to Tyrine IV."

Anakin nodded again and closed his eyes, opening himself to the Force.

***

Han walked through the streets of Etti IV with Tahiri. "This isn't easy for you is it Tahiri?" asked Han as they headed for one of the seedier dives in town.

"No. It's not, Captain Solo. I had finally gotten used to Anakin being gone, and now that he's back, I'm afraid that if I lost him, I would never get back to normal."

Han nodded. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to tell you something Hobbie Klivian told Jaina after Anakin died and Jacen went missing. He told him, 'You've got to live each day like it's going to be your last. You never know when you might take a plasma bolt up the tailpipe. So don't get so caught up in mourning those you've lost so much that you forget to live and have some fun once in a while.'"

Tahiri raised an eyebrow. "Hobbie said that? I'll try to remember that Captain Solo."

"And another thing Tahiri, I'm Han. Captain Solo sounds like something the bureaucrats would say."


	13. Conspiracy

Chapter 13

"We went to the Glow Spider. Run by a guy named Nici the Specialist. He was an expert forger and information broker."

"Nici the Specialist? Used to set up shop on Coruscant?" asked Mara.

"That's the guy. He has some sources high up in the Authority. Ploovo was in with the Authority for a long time. He knew we were coming and was instructed to say certain things, then get rid of us. It didn't turn out that way, and he ended up giving us the right planet. The Tyrine system is on the fringes of the Corporate Sector. Ploovo most likely won't sell us put, because he's afraid of Anakin, but I'm still going to recommend that Jessa move her base. We'll be there in about ten hours."

"Got it," said Mara. "One question: what if Jessa's in with the Authority? Maybe they promised her pardons for her past offenses if she helped them capture Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker. Or what if she's just annoyed that you haven't bothered to send her a message in more than thirty years?"

Han shrugged. "We try another old friend, I guess."

"Solo, sometimes I wonder about you."

***

When they arrived at Tyrine V, Han watched the sensor board very carefully.

"This is the Millennium Falcon," he said over the comm. "You down on that ball of rock Jessa?"

"Solo, what the hell are you doing here?"

"We need to talk Jess."

There was a sigh at the other end and Jessa replied, "Fine Solo. Follow the course we're transmitting to you now."

***

Han waited as the Falcon's ramp lowered. He stepped out into a clean white hanger. "You've cleaned up your operation a little Jess," he said as he moved closer to her. 

"Not so fast Solo." She took a step back and raised a small holdout blaster. Several outlaw-techs walked in, blasters leveled at Han. "You haven't sent me any sort of message in more than thirty years Solo! You brought Doc back from Star's End and next I hear you're a hero of the Rebellion, married to Alderaanian royalty, and have three kids." She lowered the blaster and smiled. "But I can understand that. I was sorry to hear about Chewie and your third son."

Han nodded. "And I was sorry to hear about Doc. Listen, the CSA's gone on the offensive, attacking some of our worlds and running. I wanted to know if you could help the Rebellion out. You probably hear all sorts of things from the pilots whose ships you fix."

"We'll talk in a little bit. Why don't you bring Anakin, and the other two Jedi out with you. You don't mind waiting a bit, I've got one thing to attend to before I can discuss your proposal."

"Sure."

"Excellent," said Jessa. "If you'll all follow Toralt here, he'll show you to my office." One of the outlaw techs stepped forward and motioned for Solo to follow. Anakin, Tahiri, and Mara walked down the ramp, with Anakin pausing to lock up the Falcon.

They were left in Jessa's office alone for a few moments. Han tapped the fake cybernetic eye and it emitted a sharp buzz. "Jessa's on the Authority payroll. She said she was sorry Anakin died, but then later mentioned her name."

"She doesn't feel right in the Force," Tahiri said. "It's she feels somehow detached from the Force. Like it wasn't really her."

"She's a clone," said Anakin quietly. "I can tell when I look at her in the Force. Except she's been implanted with altered memories, instead of revived completely like me and Grandfather."

"We've got to find out just how deep this Authority conspiracy goes, Han-" Mara was interrupted by the door sliding open.

"You said you want me to feed you information from inside the Corporate Sector, Solo."

"Yes. Now I need you to tell me one thing?"

"What?" Jessa asked innocently.

"How did you know Anakin was alive? You said you were sorry he was dead? Didn't you?" Han accused as he drew his blaster.

"Uh...listen Solo! I can explain!"

"Where's the real Jessa?"

"She's here. But if you kill me, she'll die too! I promise you that."

Han looked at the three Jedi. Mara shook her head. "She's not bluffing."

"Alright then." He turned back to the clone Jessa. "Where is she? I can have the one of the Jedi here inflict great pain upon you if you either don't tell us, or you lie. Remember now, Jedi can sense lies. How deep is this conspiracy with the clones?"

"Alright I'll talk. I don't really know that much, only what I've been told. The only names I can give you are operatives that are under me. From what I've been able to gather, Garinoska has been replacing key members of the underground and Alliance military with clones he's made that report to him unknowingly. Ploovo, he got wind of what was going on and he figured he would be one of the ones cloned and then disposed of, so he joined in with Garinoska."

Suddenly, the clone-Jessa's eyes rolled upward and her features went blank. A deep male voice came from inside her throat. "I congratulate you on getting this far, Captain Solo," said Lord Garinoska menacingly. "But you quest shall end prematurely." A blaster bolt shot out of Jessa's chest at Han. Anakin was up and had deflected the bolt faster than Han would have thought possible, even for a Jedi.

"Well, it looks like he underestimated old Han Solo. But we still have got to find the real Jess, and our only lead is dead." Han got up and holstered his blaster. But then the door slid open and about a squad of Espos filtered in. Han turned white and said, "Maybe I spoke too soon.


	14. Cold

Chapter 14

"Lay down your weapons!" the Espo sergeant ordered. Mara and Tahiri drew their lightsabers. Anakin pulled his blaster and grabbed the Espo, using him as a shield. Blast after blast hammered into the guard. Anakin dropped several Espos with perfectly aimed blast bolts. He hurled the human shield at the incoming attackers, knocking several over as he pulled his lightsaber out. The blue blade ignited and Han watched as he son killed every last one of the guards with lethal efficiency.

"Come on! They're going to be all over this place in a few minutes," said Mara. They left the room, with the three Jedi leading the way, lightsabers blazing.

When they got to the hanger, they found the Falcon surrounded by Espos. "Anakin, can you fire up the ship from here, with the Force?" asked Han.

Anakin shook his head. "Nope. Just give me a minute though." He reached down and pulled a fragmentation grenade from one of the pockets on his flightsuit. Anakin stood up and tossed the grenade into the middle of the squad of guards. They dove for cover until they realized Anakin had left the pin in the grenade. By the time they started looking for the person who had thrown the grenade, Anakin had his blaster aimed directly at it. The blaster bolt struck the grenade and set off its explosive charge and blowing the Espos all across the hanger.

As Anakin, Han, Tahiri, and Mara ran across the hanger, Espos started entering from the halls, their blasters lighting up the hanger. Anakin slapped the button for the ramp to open as he hastily returned fire. Not even waiting until the ramp was fully extended, he darted up and into the bottom quad laser turret and quickly powered it up as Han and Mara headed for the cockpit. Anakin put on the headset and found that Tahiri was occupying the dorsal turret. Anakin switched the lasers over to stutterfire and sprayed a few bursts in the direction of the Espos.

When they got into space, a flight of tri-fighters moved in on them. "Tahiri, they're flying by you first. Switch your lasers over to quad bursts and target one at a time," he said over the comlink.

"I know," she shot back. "I'm not a little girl any more. I can handle a laser cannon." There was the sound of the lasers firing. "Ah ha! Gotcha! They're coming up on your side Anakin."

Anakin readied his trigger finger and as the first clutch appeared, he took it out with a precise burst directly through the cockpit. "One down," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. He fired again. "Another one down. That's two. One more left." 

He saw the last tie clutch blink off of his sensors. "Nice shooting Tahiri."

"Thanks."

"Get strapped in kids," said Han over the comm. "We're going to Bonadon."

Anakin hopped out of the turret and found Tahiri in the main lounge. "How could you have changed so much?" she asked, an almost hurt expression on her face.

Anakin looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"You've grown so cold. You don't show any emotion through the Force. You do things I've never seen you do before. Like using that guard as a human shield. And the fight at the Dance Dome. Your dad said you weren't fighting like yourself. He said you beat those men horribly. He said all of the ones you hit could barely twitch after you finished with them."

"Tahiri...death...I can't describe it to you. As I died I kept feeling like I had failed everyone. It was horrible. I don't want to die and feel that again. I don't want to let anyone down. I'm doing what I can to keep everyone alive."

Tahiri just stared for a moment and said, "I don't think this will work. Talk to me when you've remembered who you were."

She turned and walked towards the small room that she and Mara were sharing, tears streaming down her face silently. The real Anakin isn't back. I was stupid to believe he was.


	15. Alert and More Old Friends

Chapter 15

Anakin Skywalker watched as the Suns, the Rogues, and the Vanguards sat in the lounge that had been assigned to Rogue Wing on the Mon Mothma. There was joking around of course, with Hobbie and Janson being at the center of it, and a few pilots were working on data terminals built into the walls. There would never have been this much fooling around on the Executor. Or most other ImpStars, for that matter, he mused.

The pleasant atmosphere was shattered by the entrance of General Antilles, Colonel Celchu, and General Darklighter. "Listen up, people," said Wedge. The chair with Jaina and Jag turned around. Anakin winced as he watched his granddaughter cuddling with the young pilot. "We're going to make a major stab at the Corporate Sector. The Yuuzhan Vong are giving us two worldships and their compliments of skips and warriors. The Jedi are sending Kyp's Dozen with us.. We're going to hit Bonadon." Celchu hit a button on his datapad and the holo-projector flicked on, showing the planet's defenses. "This seems to be the CSA's main capitol. They have several major spaceports. Rogue Wing will spearhead the operation, conducting an attack on Spaceport South II, the biggest of them all.

"The Wraiths will be on the ground painting targets for the Rogues while the Suns and Vanguards keep the Ties off of them. So that means be careful what you shoot at. Remember, people do live there. General Darklighter, and Colonels Fel and Solo Fel will give you further information as it becomes available."

Colonel Celchu tapped in another command on his data pad and hit the 'transmit' button. There was the sound of locks clicking behind the bar. "We are now on alert status. No alcohol." Janson groaned and muttered a curse. Celchu continued. "As you were." The commanders walked out.

"Alright Suns," said Jaina. "Break's over. Get down to the sims." There was mass groaning among the pilots, but Anakin found he was eager to get back into combat. Easy. Remember, a Jedi should not crave adventure.

***

Han Solo and the three Jedi strolled through the streets of Bonadon. The planet had changed much since the last time he was there. It had been a relatively nice place, but now it felt like Coruscant while it was under the Empire, except not quite as built up as Coruscant.

They had spotted the usual Espo guards, but every so often, they saw what seemed to be the Corporate Sector's crack troops. There wore black stormtrooper armor and walked with the swagger that screamed 'elite.' After asking around a bit, they found out the black stormtroopers were Garinoska's assassins, kidnappers, robbers, and all around thugs.

It had taken Han a while to find where his contact on the world lived. "Who is this mysterious person anyway?" asked Anakin.

"She was an Authority exec a long time ago. Her name was Fiolla of Lorrd. She hepled e get ten thousand credits from some slavers one time. I figure she might have been displaced when Garinoska took over and might be able to feed us information." 

Fiolla lived in a very nice part of the city surrounding the spaceport. There were very few Espos or stormies. When they hit the buzzer on her door, a tired looking man stepped forward.

"Who are you?" he demanded gruffly.

"I'm here to see Fiolla. I'm an old friend. Tell her it's..." Han trailed off for a moment and tried to think of a name she would recognize. "...Spray."

The man eyed him suspiciously. "Mistress Fiolla is available ." So the guy's a butler, not her husband.

"You'll take us to her," said Mara forcefully.

The man's face blanked slightly as he said, "Certainly. Right this way please." He led Han and the Jedi into a parlor.

"Who is it Torsl?" came a voice from one of the hallways. Then Fiolla stepped out into the parlor, wearing a silky robe and looking slightly annoyed. Her face turned white when she saw him. "Han?"


	16. Second Escape

Chapter 16

"I've been getting that a lot lately," Han said with a shrug.

Fiolla nodded. "Torsl, this man and his companions are known to me. I'll call for you if I need you."

"As you wish Madame," said replied the butler as he walked out. 

As the door slid shut behind him, Fiolla gave a weak smile. "It's nice to see you again Solo. It sure has been a while." Her expression became slightly angry. "No contact for more than thirty years! You leave and then suddenly you helped kill the Death Star. Then I hear you're married to the Chief of State of the New Republic with three kids."

"I've heard that a few times recently. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms. Look Fiolla, I'm going to be straight with you. I need your help. Do you still work for the Authority?"

"No. I got displaced about ten years back when Vakir Garinoska took over. Why?"

"The New Republic needs information. Do you still have knowledge of the inner workings of the Authority?"

"I keep myself informed. Listen Solo, if you're asking me to betray my government, I'm not going to do it. The CSA gave me a job for more than twenty years."

"Then I guess we have nothing more to talk about," said Han as he stood up. He was walking towards the exit when the door exploded, knocking him down.

Anakin had his lightsaber drawn immediately, with Mara and Tahiri igniting their blades a split-second later. Even before the smoke cleared, blaster fire began to fill the doorway as several stormtroopers tried to enter the house.

"Do you have a speeder in the garage?" yelled Han over the din.

"Yes!"

"Take us to it! The stormies don't care who they kill as long as they get the four of us. We need to get to the Falcon now!"

Fiolla didn't argue as she lead them to her hover-limo. The Jedi made a fighting retreat, taking most of the black-clad stormtroopers out on the way to the garage.

Han started up the limo as Anakin and Mara hopped in, carrying Blastech E-77 rifles that were used by the stormtroopers. 

"Is this thing armored?" Han asked Fiolla.

"Can a mynock fly? I was an Authority exec," she sounded worried as she pushed a button on the limo's console. The garage doors opened and revealed several military model landspeeders and speeder bikes.

"Mara!" called Anakin as he ignited his lightsaber. "Cut a hole to shoot out of!" Within seconds there were empty spaces where the doors had been. Anakin cut part of the crash restraints and secured the longest section to the back of his belt. Then he grabbed his blaster rifle and leaned out the window, ducking back in when a blaster bolt flashed by. On the opposite side of the limo, Mara did the same.

As Mara stuck her head out to return fire at the CSA stormies when there was a tremendous roar from above. Mara took a quick glance and saw an X-wing swoop down over the road, rattling her teeth. The X-wing's laser started flashing on stutterfire mode, wiping out most of their pursuers. "Thought you could use some help Han," said Kyp Durron over Han's comlink. "You oughta get out of there fast. The planet's under Rebellion assault. The Falcon might be a real help to us if you can get her into space."

"Thanks for the help Kyp. I'll see you up there."

"Alright Han. I've got to get back. The Defenders are escorting troops down to the surface." The X-wing's nose pointed to the sky and it jetted off as quickly as it had come.

I just hope we can get to the Falcon, thought Han. With a battle going on, it would be no easy task. 


	17. Blasting Out

Chapter 17

Han skillfully maneuvered the hover limo through the spaceport, heading to the Falcon's berth. Unfortunately, the Falcon had been impounded. A squad of CSA stormtroopers guarded the heavy docking bay doors.

"Sithspit!" Han cursed. "If there's that many on the outside, how many are gonna be on the inside?"

"Let me take care of it, Dad," said Anakin softly. "Me and Tahiri."

Tahiri shot Anakin an icy glare as she agreed, "We'll do it Han."

What do you have in mind? Tahiri's voice suddenly rang out in his head.

Nothing major. Anakin started talking aloud as he and Tahiri watched from behind some elaborate shrubbery. "That speeder there, see it?" Tahiri nodded. "I'm pretty sure it's a SoroSuub XP-38. The power cells in the older SoroSuub models are extremely volatile. If we send that thing up by the wall and blow up the power cells, it should blow through the door, taking out most of the stormies on either side."

Tahiri nodded. "Good plan. One thing, what if the Falcon's close to the door?"

"It isn't. The techs aboard that SSD gave me an extremely good eye for detail. C'mon. Let's highjack the speeder. They crossed the street and walked over to the speeder. "Tahiri, look a little more casual. You're giving people the impression that something's up."

After Anakin said that, Tahiri loosened up slightly. Anakin walked up to the door and tried to open it. "Locked?" asked Tahiri.

"Of course," he said dryly. Anakin pulled his lightsaber out and pressed the hilt up against the door where the locks would probably be and pressed the activation stud. He moved the lightsaber up slightly and then deactivated it, clipping the hilt to his belt.

"Good work, but how are we going to get it open?" asked Tahiri.

Anakin just grinned. He placed one of his gloved hands into the hole he had made and tore the door off with the slightest of ease. "They injected chemicals into me to make me super strong." People were starting to take notice of two kids breaking into the speeder.

"Anakin, hurry up. Someone's going to call the Security Police soon." 

Anakin didn't respond. He was concentrating on the security keypad, trying to find out the code to open it. He reached out with the Force and somehow felt which of the buttons were supposed to be pressed. The speeder's repulsorlift started up with a high-pitched whine.

"Something else the CSA techs gave you?" asked Tahiri sarcastically. "Infrared vision to see which buttons were the warmest?"

"Funny. It was the Force. And I've always been good with machines. Get in and get ready to jump out the door."

"Get out of the vehicle," came a cold voice from above. Anakin glanced up. It was an Espo.

"No way, laser-brains," Anakin muttered as he punched into the man's ribs, his hand piercing the Espo's armor and breaking a rib. The guard crumpled to the ground. Taking advantage of the second he had before the Espo's friends would be after them, he pulled out a concussion grenade and armed it. He quickly turned the craft and pushed the throttle to full. "Jump Tahiri!" Both of them jumped out the open doors and onto the ground.

The speeder continued and hit the door as the concussion grenade went off. The power cells exploded as planned, incinerating a great deal of the door and most of the stormies near it. "Come on!" Anakin yelled to Han, Mara, and Fiolla. as he drew two holdout blasters from his sleeves and began picking off the stormtroopers that had been near the edge of the blast. The Falcon had been far enough away from the docking bay doors that it hadn't been touched by the explosion.

Han got to it and lowered the ramp. Before it was all the way down, he had run up to the cockpit. Anakin, Mara, Fiolla, and Tahiri followed and Tahiri headed for the gun turret. As Mara began to head for the cockpit, she was stopped by Anakin. "Let me copilot on this one, Aunt Mara."

She looked into his eyes and saw the determined look that had almost always been on his face in the months before he died. "Alright. I'll take the gun turret."

The hurried their separate ways. Han looked up as Anakin sat down in the copilot's chair. "Dad, we're going to have to blast our way out of here. I forgot about the doors on the ceiling. Laser cannons aren't going to go through them fast enough."

"Don't worry Anakin. Just get ready to launch a shadow bomb."

"Shadow bomb?"

"Remember how Kyp used proton torpedoes without drive casings against the Vong? They became known as shadow bombs. Get ready to launch one on my mark. I'll tell you where to send it."

Anakin nodded as Han eased the Falcon out of the docking bay and into the center of the spaceport. There was a humongous transparisteel dome covering the whole spaceport. "Anakin, your target's the dome. Three...two...one...mark!"

Anakin sent a concussion missile speeding out of one of the Falcon's launchers towards the dome. He looked away as the missile exploded, taking a good portion of the dome with it. The Millennium Falcon shot through the hole. Just as they came out into the air, they took a stray laser blast. "Just great!" Fiolla yelled as she entered the cockpit and strapped herself into the navigator's chair. "You've brought us right into a war zone!"


	18. Slugging Match

Chapter 18

Telisk Derner stood on the bridge of the Planet Slayer, surveying the battle against the Rebel fleet from the farthest edge of the Bonadon system. Lord Garinoska had ordered that the largest part of the CSA fleet wait until his direct order to attack. 

The Rebel's worldships and skips had destroyed a Victory Star Destroyer and an old Marauder Corvette, in addition to several squadrons of Ties. Switching to Tie fighters and clutches from those ridiculous IRDs had been one of Garinoska's finest decisions. The Ties were cheaper, faster, and more maneuverable than the IRDs. Derner, having been a fighter pilot himself before rising to command and he especially appreciated the switch.

Derner's comm officer yelled across the bridge. "Captain Derner! Lord Garinoska is asking for you."

Derner nodded and hit a button on his computer. A tiny image of Garinoska appeared. "Captain Derner. You may precede to the following coordinates. I will be joining your fleet shortly. Garinoska out."

The image blinked off and Derner began to shout out orders. "Tell Colonel Ardnyon to ready his pilots and be prepared to launch on my mark," he ordered his XO. Then over the comm to the whole CSA fleet, he said, "Commence Operation Maelstrom."

Derner smiled as the Planet Slayer prepared to jump into hyperspace.

Finally he would get his revenge on Han Solo. The man had disgraced his family more than thirty years ago, and now he would finally realize the mistake he had made doing that.

***

Jaina Solo Fel and One Flight sped across the surface of a damaged ImpStar Duece, chasing what was left of a squadron of clutches. The pilots were good, but they didn't stand a chance against the Twin Suns.

The Suns had completed their runs on the ground and had returned to space, helping the Rebel Fleet decimate the small Corporate Sector fleet guarding Bonadon.

Then, out of nowhere, one of her pilots was vaporized by a turbolaser blast. "Where the Sithspawn did that come from?" yelled Twin Suns Three. Then he let out a low groan of realization over the comm, just as Cappie warbled the mechanical equivalent. Her sensor board lit up with hundreds of enemy blips.

Jaina let out an extremely vile curse in Rodian. Twelve Star Destroyers leapt into the battle zone, as well as an Interdictor Cruiser and at the center of it all, a Super Star Destroyer. The mammoth ship was painted so black, she would have mistaken it for empty space except for the yellow lights blinking on it. "Wow, Lead, didn't know you had that bad a mouth," said Requiem jokingly as he and his wingmate, the only remnants of Two Flight formed up on One Flight.

"Now isn't the time for jokes Five," she said dryly. "We're making a run on that Interdictor. With that there, we're never going to get out of this mess alive."

"All ships," came Admiral Kre'fey's voice over the comm, "focus all firepower on that Interdictor cruiser and plot a jump to Rendezvous Point B."

"You heard him folks," said Gavin Darklighter. "Rogue Wing, what's left of Kyp's Dozen is making a run on that Interdictor first. They'll be uploading their telemetry to us so we can finish it off. For now, just stay alive."

A minute passed, seemingly an eternity as the Dozen made their bombing runs and uploaded them to the Rogues. "Rogue Squadron, we're first, then Suns, and Vanguards are finishing it off." The Rogues made their runs and took out a large portion of the Interdictor's dorsal shielding. The Suns went next, losing one pilot in the process, the result of getting too close to his own proton torpedo when it went off. When the Vanguards lined up for their run, explosions were already rippling across the top of the damaged Cruiser. The Vanguards just sweetened the kill, destroying the ship with a tremendous burst of fire.

But when Jaina saw five ships drop out of hyperspace, her blood ran cold. One was a Star Destroyer, twice as big as an SSD. There were only two Star Destroyers in history that had been made that big. It was Eclipse-class Star Destroyer. And flanking it were four Yuuzhan Vong worldships, grown out of a reddish yorik-coral, signifying their allegiance to the Dissidents, a small group of Yuuzhan-Vong that based right at the edge of the passage where the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy joined with the one of the Rebellion. They had remained after the main Yuuzhan Vong fleets had withdrawn, their desire to defeat the 'infidels' over coming their common sense. They harassed the Rebellion every so often, but they never really posed a serious threat.

"All ships jump now!" ordered Tycho Celchu over the comm. Just before she pushed the hyperspace lever forward, Jaina's X-wing was struck by a quad blast from a Tie Interceptor, blowing the hyperdrive motivator.

"Sithspit! Suns! Go on without me! My motivator's been hit." Most of the Rebel capitol ships had already jumped out of the system.

"No way Lead!" said Requiem as he picked a Tie off of her tail.

"Get out of here Suns! That Eclipse is going to power up its gravity well generators any moment now."

"They won't have to," came the calm voice of Corran Horn as a Nebulon-B frigate jumped into the fray nearly on top of the Twin Suns. "Get into the main hanger now!"

"Gladly Radiant." The Radiant was an older ship that had been commissioned as the Jedi flagship after the Yuuzhan Vong had been repelled. Jaina entered the hanger quickly, and a split-second later, the Radiant jumped into lightspeed.

***

Lord Garinoska turned toward the officer in charge of the gravity well projectors. There was some heavy breathing for a few seconds followed by a loud thump as the body hit the floor. Then all was silent. 


	19. Planning

Chapter 19

The Rebel Fleet was strung out around Yavin 4. Its leaders were one the Mon Mothma, discussing the appearance of the Eclipse-Super Star Destroyer Deathly Silence.

Admiral Kre'fey, Master Kyp Durron, Corran Horn, Generals Darklighter and Antilles, Colonel Celchu, both of the Fels, Anakin Skywalker and Anakin Solo, Tahiri, Mara, and Han sat in one of the Star Destroyer's conference rooms.

"We're going to need all of the firepower we can get," said Kyp.

"Kid," argued Tycho Celchu as he shook his head, "there's nothing we've got at the moment that can challenge that Eclipse. Nothing."

"My father might be of help," said Jag. "He has a considerable fleet under his command, and he would be eager to defeat the CSA."

Wedge looked at Jag with a raised eyebrow. "If I know your father, the only real reason he'd help is because that the CSA would head for the Empire and the Unknown reasons after they beat the Rebellion."

"Your estimation seems correct, sir."

"General Farlander has a reasonably large fleet," suggested General Darklighter.

"And don't count out Booster Terrik," reminded Corran. "The Corporate Sector would shut his business down real fast, so he'd be glad to help." Well, glad might not be the right word for it.

"That may not be necessary ," said Anakin Skywalker quietly, "I believe I have a plan."

"Go on, Jedi Skywalker," bade Admiral Kre'fey.

"When Palpatine took over, he had special access codes sliced into the basic plans for any kind of Imperial ship. All Star Destroyers have them."

"What makes you think they haven't been erased?"

"It was sliced into the most basic level of the plans, and several times. It would be virtually impossible to erase them from the plans, even for the most skilled slicer. I assure you, they work well enough. Let me demonstrate." He typed a few commands into the datapad that was built into the table. The lights went on and off a few times and then Wedge's comlink beeped.

"Sir," said the voice on the other end, "Bridge has lost control of all systems somehow."

Wedge looked at Anakin, who grinned and then typed in another command. "They've got control back. Now, if I can get onto that Star Destroyer, I can take complete control of it, and with that control, I can take the entire fleet."

"Right now," said Han Solo, "That looks like the only option."

Everyone in the room nodded and murmured to each other for a second, and then Admiral Kre'fey stood up. "Very well Captain, you have permission to begin assembling a team. Intelligence will get you onboard the Deathly Silence. Good luck, and you all are dismissed."


	20. Changes

Chapter 20

Anakin Skywalker stood outside the Millennium Falcon in the Mon Mothma's hanger bay. "What do you want Vader?" barked Han gruffly from the top of the ship.

"I merely wanted to talk Captain Solo."

"We have nothing to talk about."

"I believe we do, sir."

Han climbed down a later and wiped the engine grease from his hands with an already dirty rag. "What do we have to talk about Vader?"

"For one, I owe you an apology. I did some horrible things to you and your family. At the end though, I saved your brother-in-law's life, and most likely yours. Do you not see people can be redeemed?"

Han poked a finger at him. "You think killing Palpatine totally redeemed every evil thing you did? I'll never forget how you tortured me, had me frozen in carbonite, and then given to Boba Fett. You helped kill almost everything my wife loved. And then, just before you died, you threw Palpatine down the Death Star's reactor shaft. And you want forgiveness for every horrible deed you did just because of that?"

Han turned around and began to walk up the ramp. "Wait a minute Solo! I'm not asking you to like me, I'm just asking you to be civil. And you could use with a little lesson in gratitude, young one. Without me, everyone in this galaxy would be enslaved by the Yuuzhan Vong, because there would have been no Jedi to oppose them. You are my son as well, Solo. I'm sorry if that bothers you, but you have no idea what I went through.

"The pull of the Dark Side is unlike anything you could ever imagine. Once you get into it, it is almost impossible to come out of it. I did, but lost my life coming back to the light. When you first started smuggling, you were sucked in. You didn't care about anything but you, Chewbacca, and money. You changed right? I might have done some bad things, but people can change. So, stop acting like a kid. Kyp Durron did some of the things I did, and you forgave him. Give me a chance here Solo. I'm not Vader anymore. I'm Anakin Starkiller, now. I'm not the same guy who did all of those things." Anakin started to walk away. "See you later Solo. I've got patrol duty in thirty minutes."

Han just watched as Anakin walked away, feeling slightly childish. "Maybe I was wrong about him."


	21. Wraiths

Author's Note: I have a lame attempt at Wraith humor, if it stinks, tell me and I'll redo the chapter. Sorry for the lack of updates. Real life seems determined to keep me from writing. Enjoy.

  
  
  
  


Chapter 21

Telisk Derner strode into the President's office proudly, making sure everyone saw the Admiral's insignia on his chest.

When, he got there, he was surprised to find Lord Garinoska conversing with a blue-skinned individual. As he saluted, Garinoska and the other person stood up. When Derner saw his face, he gasped.

"Yes, Admiral, as you have most likely guessed, this is Grand Admiral Thrawn. I cloned him as well."

"Am I to be replaced?" asked Derner, his face paling.

Garinoska shook his head. "Sort of. Admiral Thrawn will be taking command of the Planet Slayer and any other fleet elements he needs for his mission. You will be moved up to command the Deathly Silence."

"I see, my Lord. May I inquire what it is that the Grand Admiral will be doing so I can better assist him?"

Thrawn looked at Garinoska, who nodded. "I will be going after the Jedi, particularly Anakin Solo. The Planet Slayer will be my base of operations. I would appreciate it if you would transmit records of your fleet's efficiency ratings. I will choose the ships I need to fulfill my mission."

Derner sighed inwardly. Another spook-type. Sithspit. "Certainly Admiral. Is that all my Lord?"

"No. I have a new mission for you. I want you to get ready to mobilize the fleet. Details are on this datacard. It will erase after you read it, so commit it to memory."

"Yes, my Lord." Derner accepted the offered datacard, saluted, and marched out. Hopefully we're finally going on the offensive again. If another few weeks of defense and bureaucracy pass, I'm going to go insane.

Constant drilling seemed to have taken its toll on the Captain.

***

Anakin Skywalker sat in a briefing room with the strangest assortment of pilots he had ever seen. Well, pilot-commandos. The Wraiths were a strange group. After the fight against Warlord Zsinj, the Wraiths had been disbanded as a fighter unit and transferred to Intelligence, Anakin learned after talking with Elassar Targon, a Devaronian.

"You you're really Darth Vader?" he was saying as Colonel Face Loran walked up to the podium at the front of the room.

"Well Wraiths, I've got a mission for us that is harder than anything we've ever pulled off before."

"Hah!" laughed Kell Tainer. "Harder than Coruscant? Harder than Zsinj? Well, that one wasn't that hard-"

"Captain Skywalker, that's Kell. He's probably the most obnoxious of us all. And that says a lot. But anyway, back to the mission. We're charged with capturing the Deathly Silence, that big Eclipse-Star Destroyer that jumped the fleet at Bonadon. Now, Captain-"

"Alright, you win, Face. That's hard enough to require the talents of Elassar Targon, Master of the Universe!" Everyone laughed, including Targon.

"Let it go, will you Kell? That was years ago! I've matured since then. I'm now Elassar Targon, Total Master of All Things in the Universe, especially those that go 'bang!'" cried Elassar.

"No fair, O Great Colonel! That's my job!" yelled Kell. The briefing descended into utter pandemonium for about five minutes until Face yelled at everyone to shut up.

"Please Wraiths, Captain Skywalker must think we're barbarians!"

"That isn't to far from what I'm thinking."

The Wraiths laughed. "Alright," said Face, completely serious, "Starkiller here has a way to take control of the SSD, but he needs to be on board. Captain, I'm assigning you to work with myself, Tainer, and Piggy. Everyone else, make up your own groups and come up with some plans by 1200 hours tomorrow, you all know the drill. Talk to the rest of you then."

As Face spoke, the Wraiths shifted into groups to brainstorm ways to get onto the Silence.

Anakin did a double take when he saw Voort, 'Piggy' saBinring, a Gamorrean that had arrived late to the briefing, so Anakin hadn't really seen him.

"Captain Starkiller," he growled in Basic. His voice sounded slightly mechanical.

Anakin checked Piggy's insignia. "Lieutenant. It is a pleasure to meet you." He exteneded his hand, and the Gamorrean pilot took it.

"I know what you must be wondering. I was involved in an experiment by Binring BioMedical."

"They made stormtrooper rations, right?"

Piggy nodded. "They did. I had my bio-chemistry altered. My creator ended up taking pity on me and made arrangements for me to escape. I joined the Alliance and ended up here."

"Nasty sort of experiments. I oversaw one when Palapatine decided the research team needed some 'motivation.' But that's ancient history. I'm glad to be working with you."

"And I with you."

"Hey you two! Get over here so we can figure out how to take down an Eclipse," called Kell from where he and Face had been talking quietly.

It's time to take down Garinoska, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to meet that son of a Sithspawn and find out why the idiot gave us lightsabers in the first place.


	22. Boxing

Chapter 22

Anakin Solo stood in the Mon Mothma's gymnasium, examining the men in front of him. The commando pilots were older, but not as old as his father or Wedge. "I'm Face," said the shorter one with the scar. "This reprobate here is Kell."

"Face, as in Garik Loran?"

"That's me, why? You're a little young to have seen my holodramas."

"Threepio told us about you in his history lessons."

"Ouch. That hurts, Solo. I'm not that old."

"I'm kidding. A friend of mine loved Win or Die."

"Ah. Hear that Kell? He has heard of me. Hand 'em over pal."

Kell passed Face a handful of credits. "Don't ever get involved in gambling, kid."

"Back to you. We want you to join the Wraiths."

"I'll consider it," said Anakin, thinking the idea over. It sounded good to him. The Wraiths would provide a sense of belonging, which he desperately needed. With Tahiri gone, off on a mission that his uncle had given her, and besides that, he wasn't exactly on her A list at the moment.

"Oh, I've heard that tone before," said Kell with a grin. "Every time Face talks to a girl and gets shot down."

"Shut up Kell. Well? You in Solo?"

"Alright. But before I get burdened down with official duties, I'm doing some hand-to-hand combat practice. Either of you want to spar?"

Kell stepped forward and grinned. "I'm in. Face?"

"Sorry. I've got to meet with General Cracken, he's in charge of the Wraiths and the copycat squadrons he's formed," Face added for Anakin's benefit. "I'll see you two later."

Face headed for the gym's door as Kell walked over to one of the equipment lockers and pulled out two pairs of boxing gloves. Anakin grabbed the gloves Kell offered him.

When both of them had put on the gloves and put in some mouth guards, Kell and Anakin stepped into the boxing ring in the corner of the room.

Kell bowed, and Anakin returned it, and both settled into fighting stances. Kell didn't recognize the martial art from which Anakin's stance belonged, but he resolved to block a few blows first and see if any moves jogged his memory.

This was going to be fun.

***

In the hallway, Face passed Shalla Nelprin, another of the Wraith's unarmed combat experts. The petite woman made Kell look like an idiot in the ring with her gracefulness, and she was still strong enough to toss the large man around like a rag doll.

"Hey Face. Did the kid bite?"

Face nodded. "He's in the gym sparring against Kell."

Shalla grinned. "It's been a while since I've seen Kell get whipped around the ring. I'll think I'll get the rest of the Wraiths down there to watch."

"Go ahead. I've got a meeting with Cracken in ten minutes. Tomorrow we ship off on the Caller."

The Night Caller was a corvette the Wraiths had captured when the squadron was first joined. When the Wraiths had been transferred to Intelligence, the ship had been presented to them as a base of operations. The crew had been mostly removed except for a skeleton crew and some droids, so the Wraiths could operate in secrecy.

Shalla ran back to the quarters the Wraiths had been given on the Mon Mothma, to get the rest of the squad down there to watch Kell get beat up.

***

Kell blocked another blow and returned with a countering kick to the stomach, which Anakin caught with his left hand. He grabbed Kell's leg higher up with his other hand, and spun it, sending the larger man into a spiraling fall.

Anakin's fist shot downward for the finishing blow, and stopped within millimeters from Kell's face. He retracted his fist and stepped back, waiting for Kell to get up. Tainer got up and made a hard left hook that connected with Anakin's nose when Anakin moved forward for another volley of blows. "Oh Sithspit! I meant to stop that! Sithspit! I didn't mean to break your nose!"

"You didn't. Look at me, I'm not even bleeding from it. The CSA techs coated my bones with durasteel. You ready to go another round?"

"No thanks. You win kid."

There was the sound of clapping from the edge of the room. Kell looked around and saw the rest of the Wraiths standing there, grinning at Kell's loss. Sharr Latt held a holocam. "Wait'll everyone sees this," the expert on psychological warfare said. "Big Kell, the boxer, beaten by a nineteen-year-old kid."

"It's not fair though, he's a Jedi!" Kell whined.

"Quit complaining. He beat you fairly," said Shalla. "Look on the bright side. You can say you were beat by a Jedi."

"Oh, that's something to brag about," said Kell glumly.


	23. Introductions

Author's Note: Again, sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I've had several major projects due and have been extremely busy with them. Since that's all done, hopefully I'll be posting more often.

  
  
  
  


Chapter 23

The Night Crawler grew on Anakin's viewport as he flew his XJ3 X-wing towards the Crawler. The ship was an older Corellian Corvette. It come out of the shipyard with several non-standard modifications. The Corvette could carry a squadron's worth of X-wings, and two or more TIE fighters. Anakin switched his comm over to the Wraith's private frequency when Gadget, his R5 astromech told him someone was hailing them.

"Solo? This is Captain Atril Tabanne aboard the Night Crawler. You're cleared to land in our shuttle bay."

"Copy Night Crawler. See you in a few minutes."

Anakin looped around and entered the shuttle bay. Inside was Lambda-class shuttle and a few techs scurrying around it. Anakin put down in the remaining berth and initiated the X-wing's shutdown sequence. He saw a Gamorrean dressed in a standard orange Rebellion flightsuit walk up to the X-wing.

Anakin hopped out of his X-wing and landed on the ground with out making a sound.

"Anakin Solo," the Gamorrean growled.

He nodded. "That's me. Uh, Anakin Solo reporting for duty!" He remembered to salute a little to late.

"Relax Solo. I'm Voort saBinring, but others call me Piggy. I'll be your guide on your tour of the Night Crawler. We captured this ship quite a while ago, right after the Wraiths were founded. We modified it to carry a squadron of X-wings. We'll put you through a few simulations of landings in the Night Crawler," he said in his mechanical tone as they headed towards the ship's bridge.

As they walked towards the bridge Anakin noticed one consistency: there were very few crewmen. "How come there's not a full crew?"

"Intelligence reasons. We handle secure material, so most of the crew are folks we've worked with over the years and have earned are trust. The rest are droids," replied Piggy.

They entered the bridge and found thirteen people there. "These are the Wraiths. This here, is Hohass Ekwesh." Piggy pointed towards a large humanoid being. "He's small for a Thakwaash, so he's called Runt." Looking at Runt, Anakin had to wonder how big other Thakwaash were, if Runt was considered small. Runt was almost as large as Kell.

"I believe you've met Kell, Face, and Shalla." Piggy gestured at each of them in turn. "That is Elassar Targon," he said as he nodded at a male Devaronian skulking at the back of the group. "Sharr Latt, Bhindi Drayson, and Baljos Arnjak." Anakin looked over each of the humans as Piggy spoke their names.

"Wait, Bhindi Drayson? Related to Admiral Drayson?"

Bhindi nodded. "And Mr. Arnjak, weren't you left on Coruscant? Uncle Luke mentioned that after I returned."

"I was. I hid out and got picked up when Coruscant was invaded." Anakin nodded.

Piggy continued. "This is Grabakhar." Anakin stared at the smaller figure in a cloak.

"A Noghri?"

"Yes," came Grabakhar's reply.

Piggy gestured at another small cloaked figure. "This is Lavaroo."

"Greetings Solo," said a high-pitched voice from inside the cloak.

"Yes, he is an Ewok. Modified the same way I was. We found him just before the Yuuzhan Vong War, during an operation on Bastion.

"This next Wraith is here for the duration of this mission. I believe you two know each other."

Anakin Skywalker stepped out from the back of the group. "Grandson."

Anakin nodded back at him and bade Piggy to continue. "These last two are members of our support personel. Cubber Daine, head mechanic, and Captain Atril Tabanne. Now that introductions are finished, Baljos will brief you on our current mission."

The Wraiths exited the bridge, leaving only Captain Tabanne, Baljos, and Anakin.

"Let's get to business. We've got to capture an Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer. We've got a way to take it down, but first we need to get on board. Any ideas?"

They talked while they headed down to the hanger to grab Anakin's gear. After that, they headed towards Anakin's quarters. "I'd get some rack-time if I were you," said Baljos. "Face called a meeting tomorrow, which means we're probably going to finish putting this operation together. That also means we'll be working all day and likely into tomorrow night. See you tomorrow, Solo."

Baljos left Anakin alone in his quarters.

I think I've finally found a place where I'll be useful during this war, he thought with a smile.


	24. Visions

Chapter 24

The reborn Thrawn and Admiral Derner sat in a conference room aboard the Deathly Silence.

"Admiral, I've come up with a way to lure Solo and Skywalker to a place where I can capture them. I need your help."

"Anything, Admiral Thrawn."

"One, I need you to take the Silence on a campaign of raids across Rebel space. It doesn't matter what worlds you hit, and I don't want you slagging any worlds. Pick what worlds you want, and jump in, cause a small amount of damage, and escape. It might even be best if you used a couple of smaller craft, I would recommend a Victory Star Destroyer and two Carrack-class cruisers." Thrawn tapped in a few commands into his datapad. The holoprojector at the center of the table lit up to show Borleias.

"This is the world where Luke Skywalker runs his Jedi academy, along with his nephew, Jacen Solo," the blue-skinned humanoid continued. "I am going to blockade the system with a small fleet most likely consisting of the Planet Slayer, four Imperial-class Star Destroyers, and numerous smaller support craft. I will transmit the final list of ships I am taking with me six standard hours before we depart tomorrow. You will be expected to begin the attacks in two days. Do you have any concerns?"

"None at all, Admiral Thrawn."

"Good. Hopefully, the next time I see you, I will have young Solo back in captivity."

Both men stood and saluted, and Thrawn exited the room.

If he accomplishes his mission, I may be forced to retire rather unexpectedly. Derner shook his head. I've just got to remind Lord Garinoska why he placed me in charge of the military.

***

After days planning sessions and simming with the Wraiths, Anakin felt like a balloon with all of the air let out of it. He, his grandfather, and the rest of the Wraiths had applied all of their creative genius to find a way onto the Deathly Silence, but they were coming up slightly short every time.

He collapsed into his bed, thinking of Tahiri. A million questions ran through his brain. At the top of them all was whether Tahiri would ever be able to love an Intelligence officer?

Anakin wasn't sure whether or not he was asleep when the vision began.

***

A single ship jumped into a planetary system, Borleias, Anakin recognized. He realized it was the YT-2400 freighter Tahiri flew.

Then Star Destoyers began jumping out of hyperspace behind her. Vibrant green turbolaser blasts sheared through Tahiri's ship. Everything went dark, and brightened again, like a holoprojector changing stations.

There was now a fierce battle about to begin down on the ground. Black-armored stormtroopers were advancing on the Jedi Temple. A line of Jedi stood in front of it, with Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo at the front of it. Jacen kissed a blonde woman and told her to run, but she remained by his side, holding a brilliant green lightsaber that matched Jacen's. Then the stormtroopers came into firing range. 

One by one, the Jedi began to fall. When the blonde fell, Jacen's anguished howl filled the air. With a look of utter hatred, lightening flew from his fingertips at the stormtroopers. But finally, one laser blast cut through Jacen's chest, then another, and another, until all that was left was his charred skeleton.

Again, everything changed. Jedi trainees, most of them young children, were being led across the still burning wreckage of the still smoking battlefield in shackles. Ben Skywalker was among them. The young boy saw his father's body and began to cry, an action that was rewarded with a blaster rifle butt slammed into his back, knocking him over. The stormtrooper pulled him back up and pushed him forward to the shuttles that the trainees were being loaded onto.

Tahiri's disembodied voice, full of despair, cried, "Anakin!"

***

Anakin's eyes snapped open. He jumped up and slammed the Open button for the door. He sprinted towards the bridge, slamming into Runt hard enough that the large Thakwaash fell to the ground. "Where are you going in such a hurry, Anakin?"

"We've got to go to Borleias! Is Captain Tabanne on duty?"

Runt nodded, clearly confused. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain when we get to the bridge." Anakin picked up his sprint again and entered the bridge. "Captain! Could you please page Face?"

Tabanne looked him over and decided that Anakin wouldn't be this tense unless it was important.

A moment later Face arrived on the bridge, looking rather sleepy. "This better be good, Solo, or you've got kitchen duty for a week!" Wraith Leader grumbled half-heartedly.

"Face, we've got to go to Borleias!"

"Why?"

"The Jedi are in grave danger! I had a vision, through the Force. The CSA is going after the Jedi! They had the Planet Slayer with them!"

"I probably shouldn't do this, but Atril, set course for Borleias. Put out a priority alert to whole fleet. All ships that aren't currently engaged, report to Borleias because of immediate threat to the safety of the Rebel Alliance."

Tabanne nodded. "As ordered Colonel." She turned to the console and began implementing Face's orders.

"I only hope you're right about this Anakin."

Anakin searched himself for any way he could be wrong, but there was no mistaking the cold fist clenched around his heart. He shook his head. "No. I've got to go see if I can find Uncle Luke in the Force. He's got to get the Radiant there, and fast! If we don't act soon, I fear that the whole Jedi order will be wiped out entirely."


	25. Trouble

Chapter 25

"Good. You're getting better at anticipating my moves," said Jacen Solo as he deactivated

his lightsaber and wiped a bit of sweat from his brow.

Danni Quee also deactivated her lightsaber. "Yes Master Solo."

Jacen grinned. "I think we're a bit closer than Master and Apprentice," he said as he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Danni smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by the beep of Jacen's comlink.

Jacen sighed and put it to his mouth. "Solo here."

"Master Solo, this is General Farlander. We've got a major problem. I'd appreciate if you'd report to the war room of the base as soon as possible."

"I'll be there in a few minutes sir." He clicked off the comlink. "Danni, there's a situation. Get Valin. Have him go to the class I'm supposed to be teaching and tell them that I've been called away for a few minutes. Then head for the communications room and wait for me."

Danni nodded. "I'll go now." Both of them left the sparring room and headed their separate ways.

The base, the Temple, and the biotics facility were connected by a grav rail network, so they could be reached easily from any one of the buildings. The biotics facility had been hollowed out by engineers. A system of braces and catwalks allowed the whole building to be used as a giant hanger.

Pilots stayed in a barracks facility that ran up the side of the biotics facility. The landing pad on the roof would open up and ships would be allowed to land.

The Alliance base was home to the ground personnel and command staff. Jacen walked briskly towards the grav-rail station. He was the only person on it. When he stepped inside the rail car, a soothing droid voice asked, "Where to?"

"Base."

"Authorization code?" The younger students weren't allowed to go to the other compounds without an older apprentice, Knight, or Master. Jacen sighed then puncehd in the code on a little keypad. "Code accepted. Brace yourself."

Jacen grabbed one of the handrails and waited for the ride to end. It was short, only about a minute. The compunds were only a few hundred yards apart, but the rail system moved slowly.

When he arrived at the station, a young ensign was waiting for him. "Will you come with

please, General Farlander is waiting for you, Master Solo."

"What's going on?" Jacen asked as they started walking to the war room.

"General Farlander knows more about the situation."

"Tell me," Jacen said putting the Force into his words.

"A CSA fleet seems to have dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system," the Ensign replied as they reached the war room. People were running rushing around everywhere.

"General Farlander," said the young Jedi Master.

General Farlander whispered into his headset comlink for a second and turned to face Jacen. "Master Solo. A Corporate Sector Authority fleet has arrived in system. They're moving to establish a blockade." He turned to face the tactical sensor board. "We've got two Victory-class Star Destroyers here and here. There are four Carrack strike cruisers and two older Lancer frigates here," said the General as he pointed everything out on the board. "The second group is here. There are four Corvettes, and a Nebulon-B frigate here." He paused for a moment. "And in the center is a Super-class Star Destroyer. All of the ships have their respective complements of fighters."

Jacen wished he had his sister's extensive knowledge of starships. "How many fighters are we talking here?"

"A hundred-seventy-six. And if the Carracks and Corvettes are carrying any, it's probably closer to two hundred."

Jacen frowned. "What do we have here?"

"I've got two full wings, seventy-two. I know your uncle has a squadron of fighters as well, but they're pilotless. We've also got several freighters, some of which used to be smuggler ships, and are well armed. But even then, we don't have the kind of firepower to combat what they've got up there. The Lancer will chew our fighters up."

Jacen clenched a fist. "Sithspit."

"So far, they've not tried bombarding our shields. They're probably going to try to got after the Jedi." Jacen nodded. "We have a few options. One, we can evacuate some of the trainees. I can have two transports prepped and ready for take off in twenty minutes. But the chances of getting them past the blockade are small. We can try to mount an assault, but that's suicide. Last, we go turtle. They seem to be trying to blockade the system. They'll have come down onto the ground, and we've got a decent chance of beating them down here. While we wait, a friendly fleet arrives and I send my fighters up to help. We got a distress signal out before they started jamming long range transmissions."

"I've got to tell the other Jedi. I've got some people that are veterans of the war, but not far enough along in their training that they have lightsabers. Do you want them?"

"Probably, though things may change. I've got instructors that can come and help you equip and train your people."

"Send them over after I leave. I'll have my comlink on." With that, Jacen turned and jogged back towards the rail station, his robe flying around him. The Jedi were in danger, and at the moment, their fates all rested in his hands. I'd better not screw this up.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	26. Warning

Chapter 26

Jacen looked over the assembled Jedi students and Knights. There were about three

hundred, of every species and age coming close to filling the auditorium. "We've got a situation. The CSA has blockaded the system." he paused as whispers ran through the crowd. "I need everyone with combat experience up here. The rest of you, Danni Quee will talk to you at the back of the room."

All of the Jedi Knights stepped forward towards Jacen as well as about two dozen students. "The situation is bad," he said quietly, so the rest of the trainees wouldn't hear. "We've got a big fleet. Two Victory Star Destroyers, a Super Star Destroyer, and other support ships. They've got close to two hundred fighters altogether."

One of the apprentices, a Bothan, called Irikal Ayr'van, whistled. "This is wonderful. We've got only forty or so Jedi who can fight. There's got to be thousands of them up there."

"We're making plans. Reinforcements are on their way. We've got to hold out. Already, engineers from the base are fortifying the outer perimeter against a ground assault."

"And if they attack from the air?" another apprentice asked.

"The shields will hold. We're not diverting power to the main ion cannons, so they're at three hundred percent above their normal strength. In a few minutes you'll need you to report to the gymnasium. There are soldiers there that will equip you for battle."

Irikal shook his head. "I do not need to be equipped." He barred his teeth. "I've got a weapon of my own." He pulled a vibrosword out of its scabbard. "It's not a lightsaber, but it will do."

"Well head there just the same. You can go. All of the full Knights, stay."

The apprentices walked off towards the gym. "What will you have us do Master Solo?"

"Right now, I need help calming the younger students. I know a few of you were in the military, so maybe you could help the engineers in fortifying the Complex's perimeter. The shields should hold, but we need to be able to hold out against a ground assault."

Several Jedi nodded and left. "I'll contact you as soon as I need you. Get to work." The crowd of battle-able Jedi dissipated.

Jacen's headset beeped. "Solo. This is Farlander. A Rebel Corellian Corvette has dropped out of hyperspace. 

They'veasked for help getting to the ground. Somehow, the ship has a whole squadron of X-wings, and a few TIEs, but they need more of an escort."

"Can it fit inside the biotics facility?"

"Not with all of the other ships in there. It's going to land in the center of the Complex. We're going to let up on the shields a little bit and blast any capitol ships that are after the Corvette with the ion cannons."

"Alright. Call me when they reach the ground."

***

Up in space, Anakin proved why he had been picked for an elite squadron. They had been out of hyperspace for only two minutes, and he had already logged three kills. He saw another bomber swoop towards the Night Caller and moved to intercept it. Before he could get a lock on the TIE, a blast from one of the other Wraiths got it.

"Too slow Twelve!" shouted Larvaroo in his tinny voice.

"We've got ten more minutes before we're dirtside. When we get there a mug of Whyren's Reserve for everyone!" said Face. "Five," he whispered, though still on the main channel, "think that'll motivate them?"

"Always does Lead."

The thirteen X-wings suffered no losses, and kept TIE bombers from reaching the Night Caller. Another X-wing squadron sped towards the engagement zone from Borleias. "This is Screaming Wookiee Lead to unidentified X-wing squadron. Looks like you have the situation under control, but we're here to give you a hand getting to the ground.

"Wookiee Lead, this is Wraith One, show us down."

Because the Night Caller's course had dropped them out of hyperspace on Borleias's day side, they had avoided the main CSA fleet, leaving them a relatively easy decent into atmosphere. Still, there were a few Ties, and with help from the Screaming Wookiee training squadron, the Wraiths made it to the ground safely.

Several speeders were waiting for the Night Crawler when it touched down. The X-wings were guided into the Biotics facility. Anakin was amazed by the inside of the hanger bay. It was huge, and ships of every size filled it. There were several squadrons of fighters docked, and support crews flitted about, providing maintenance for all of the fighter squadrons based in the Biotics facility.

A young officer guided the Wraiths through the labyrinth hanger and to a speeder that took them out to where the Night Crawler had landed.

Keyan Farlander, his XOs, and a couple of other officers stood outside the Night Crawler along with Jacen Solo. Anakin saw they were deep in conversation with Captain Tabanne.

After meeting all of the officers, the Wraiths were pulled into a briefing session that lasted a couple of hours, and Anakin was about ready to stun every officer there if he couldn't get to a hypercomm unit and warn Tahiri not to come to Borleias.

When he finally did get to a comm unit, he was answered only with static. "Sithspit!" he cried, throwing a fist into the wall and leaving a substantial dent. There was only one methos left, and it might not work.

Anakin cleared his mind completely and reached out in the Force for Tahiri. He found her unique signature quickly, and he realized with growing dread that it was only an standard hour from Borleias. Tahiri! Don't come!

He didn't know whether she had heard and ignored his warning, or hadn't heard at all. All he knew was that if the Corporate Sector Authority, killed Tahiri, they would face the vengeance of Anakin Solo! 


	27. Waiting

Chapter 27

Anakin raced for the hanger twenty minutes later, using the Force to make him run even faster than his already enhanced run.

He Force-jumped from the bottom level to the catwalks forty feet above, continuing until he reached the top, where his X-wing was. With the current crisis, all of the fighters were kept fueled and ready to go, so he hopped into the cockpit and punched the ignition button, catching his astromech off-guard.

What is going on, Captain Solo? flashed up onto the screen.

"I've got a friend to rescue." It took him ten minutes to get out of the biotics facility and above the shield, due mostly to uncooperative traffic controllers. As he tore out of the atmosphere, Tahiri's ship, the Barefoot Crusade, winked out of hyperspace. "Sithspawn!" Anakin set his thrusters to full and began to fly by pure instinct, shredding one TIE that strayed across his path.

A moment after the Crusade entered realspace, the Radiant Light and a squadron and a half of XJ5 X-wings leapt into existence. "This is Radiant Light to Borleias control! Be prepared to accept landing craft! Radiant out."

A heavily armored escort shuttle launched from the hanger bay just as the Radiant received the full brunt of the CSA's firepower, exploding heavy heavy turbolaser blasts. The Jedi ships were soon swarmed with TIEs, but with the Force as their ally, they were untouchable. Then Anakin saw his worst fear come true. A pair of TIE Interceptors latched onto Tahiri's tail and showered the freighter brilliant green laser bolts. "Nooooooo!"

Anakin launched into a fury, ready to unleash the boiling hatred he was feeling towards the CSA ships in an amazing fit of rage. Suddenly, a white light invaded the black that had crowded over his mind, soothing him slightly.

Do'nt worry Anakin! came a shout from Tahiri through the Force. I'm still alive!

Anakin noticed the ejection chair that was going ballistic towards Borleias. "We've got her Anakin," said Corran Horn's calm voice from aboard the escort shuttle.

Anakin jetted all around Tahiri's ejection couch, killing every last TIE that ventured with in range. When Corran picked Tahiri up, all of the Jedi formed up on the shuttle and kept it safe while they headed towards the ground.

Tahiri was safe, at least for now.

  
  


***

As soon as his X-wing was locked into place among the grid of durasteel braces, Anakin hopped out onto the nearest catwalk and made a beeline for the escort shuttle. Tahiri was just walking down the ramp when he got to her.

Anakin grabbed her shoulders and shook her a couple of times. "Didn't you get my warning?" he cried, rather angrily.

Tahiri nodded. "I got it. I ignored it. I knew what was happening here. Master Skywalker knew what was going on. We were coming in together, so we could reinforce the Temple's defense."

"I almost lost you," he said softly as he pulled her into an embrace. "I-"

"Anakin," said Luke Skywalker's voice behind them. "Could I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure." He turned to Tahiri. "I'll only be a minute."

Luke's face had aged a little since he had died, noted Anakin for the first time. Right now, it looked slightly upset.

"What happened out there?" Luke asked, referring to the rage that had controlled Anakin during the short skirmish.

"I lost it."

"What do you mean you lost it? You are one of the most powerful Jedi of this generation. If you go to the dark side..."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Uncle Luke, I almost lost one of the people I love most. If you lost Mara, don't you think you might get a little angry?"

"I-"

"Let him go, Luke," came the serene voice of Anakin Skywalker. "I know what he's going through. I did the same thing the first time I lost someone very dear to me. But I recovered, at least until worse things started happening. I don't think what happened out there is something that will occur again."

"Yes Father."

Anakin nodded. "Come on. We need to get you, Horn, and Durron briefed on the situation. General Farlander and Jacen are waiting."

  
  


***

The overall mood in base's main war room was grim. "We've got bad news," said Corran Horn, when General Farlander asked about reinforcements.

"The CSA has begun a string of hit and fade assaults on border worlds, causing heavy damage and fleeing to hyperspace. The fleet is trying to keep them from slagging any important worlds, like Mon Calamari. Wedge is trying to put together a small fleet to come here, but chances are grim. We've got to hold out until the whole of the Fleet can be mobilized."

Farlander frowned. "I see. They're not getting through the shields unless they come down here and destroy the generators. Colonel Loran, are any of you people good tacticians?"

"I've got a few. Larvaroo's an expert in defending heavily forested areas, which the Complex's surroundings more or less resemble. I can send him out to help your engineers fortify the fringes of the Complex."

"That would be excellent Colonel," said Farlander with a frown. "All that's left to do now is wait."

  
  


***

Six hundred kilometers away, CSA transports began to touch down, disgorging Espos and Elite Stormtroopers. The troops fanned out and cleared the surrounding area as night fell.

When the sun rose, a base had been set up and more troops were arriving hourly.

  
  


***

Jacen Solo went back to the Temple with his brother. "Anakin," he said quietly while they were on the grav train, "there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it Jace?"

The older man smiled. "I'm getting married."

"What? To who?" asked Anakin, surprise blossoming on his face.

"Danni Quee."

"But what about Tenel Ka?"

"We eventually grew apart after your death. Don't worry. I've-We've got everything planned out. We're going to have the wedding soon, hopefully after we win this battle. I wanted to ask you to be my best man."

Anakin grinned the grin that his father was famous for. "Of course I'll do it. One thing though. Have you told anyone else?"

"Jaina knows. Danni and I told her a while ago, when the Rogues were based here. She'd pretty much figured out that we a bit closer than Master and Apprentice, though, when we told her."

"That sounds like her, alright."

"There's one other thing. If I die in this battle...keep Danni safe."

"Don't talk like that," Anakin said with a frown. "We'll all make it through okay. Things'll turn out right in the end."

"I hope so, Little Brother. I sure hope so." 

  
  
  
  


A/N: Sorry for the delay. School and broken computers are mostly to blame. I'll have the next chapter up soon, hopefully. 


	28. Battle

Chapter 28

Jacen, Corran, and Luke were all awakened early that morning by one of General Farlander's aides. When they arrived in the war room, another aide presented each of them with a cup of caf.

"They're coming," said Farlander. "We've got three hours, at the most. They're dropping in about two klicks from our eastern perimeter."

"What's the size of the force?"

"Maybe six hundred, Espos and Elite Stormtroopers. They've got a dozen or more AT-STs and about twenty Chariot LAVs and maybe forty other assorted repulsor-craft."

"If we can't hold them off, have all of the trainees loaded onto the Night Crawler for evac," said Luke. "Corran, you stay here for now. Jacen and I will wake all of the students and get them prepared for battle." He turned to Farlander. "May be Force be with you."

"We're going to need it," said the General as Solo and Skywalker left.

  
  


***

Anakin Solo stared through his macro-binoculars at the approaching Corporate Sector force. They were marching in perfect formation, every soldier. The first line was all Espos, it appeared. He turned to the Rebel soldier manning the gun beside him. "What kind of gun is that?"

"It's a NRMG-1, shoots 14 mm armor piercing slugs at 3000 rounds per minute. Not quite as powerful as a blaster, but the rate of fire makes up for it." The Sergeant patted the back of the large mounted gun. "Those Espos won't know what hit 'em. This bunker's pretty well camouflaged. There's a line of these bunkers set up across this perimeter."

Anakin nodded. "Good luck." He turned and headed out the back of the bunker to where his swoop was waiting. He took one last glance behind him as he headed out to where the Jedi trainees were boarding the Night Crawler.

It was a solemn scene, with all of the younger Jedi trainees heading up the ramp sullenly. Ben Skywalker stood at his father's side, pouting about having to leave.

And then suddenly, the enemy was upon them. The sounds of machine guns ran out, followed closely by blaster fire.

Jacen stood with Danni, begging her to take the ship out, in case things went bad, but the look of defiance on her face told Anakin that she wasn't going anywhere. Jacen pulled her into a tight hug and then both of the mounted speeder bikes and left for the battle.

Luke had given up arguing and had handed Ben off the an older Jedi trainee before leading a group of Jedi to the main battle.

"Waiting for something?" said a female voice from behind him. Anakin whirled about. It was Tahiri, clad in brown Jedi robes.

"More like someone. Hop on. I've got to get out there." He spun the swoop around and Tahiri leapt on. As they sped off for the fighting, Anakin shouted over the engines, "I just wanted you to know, Tahiri, that I love you. Stay safe." She didn't reply, and Anakin wondered whether or not she had heard him.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a explosion that sent them flying off of the swoop. Both of them stood up and ignited their lightsabers, ready to fight. They kept going forward, dodging artillery fire.

Finally, they reached the first line of bunkers. Blaster fire was flying over their heads. Tahiri and Anakin ducked behind a fallen tree. Anakin pulled a blaster rifle off of his back and checked the power pack.

"Glad to see you, sir," yelled a non-com from behind the wreckage of a bunker. "It's a mess. They got the bunker with artillery. There's two more soldiers spread out in this general area, but they're green."

"Sarge!" shouted another voice. The Sergeant turned to face the tree stump the young soldier was standing behind. "They got Sehielan!"

The Sergeant nodded grimly and yelled to Anakin, "If you can get any reinforcements here, it'd be real helpful!"

"I'm on it." Anakin raised his comlink to his lips as Tahiri let out a burst of laser fire from her side of the tree. "This is Wraith Twelve to any available Wraiths. I need immediate reinforcement at my current location. Say again, I need immediate reinforcements at my location."

"Acknowledged Twelve," said Grabakhar. "Larvaroo, Piggy, Runt, Elassar, and I will be there shortly."

Anakin turned to the Sergeant and said, "We've got reinforcements on the way. Commandos."

"Thanks, sir-" The Segeant took a blaster bolt to the shoulder. "Sithspawn!" He dropped his rifle and drew his pistol with his good arm.

"Tahiri!" called Anakin. "Can you help him out? I'll cover you." She nodded. "Suppressing fire! Three, two, one, run!" As Tahiri took off for the Sergeant's position, Anakin and the young private stood up and lanced fire across the wrecked forest towards where the Espos were firing from. They were joined a second later by the Wraiths.

"Thank the Force you guys are here," said Anakin to Grabakhar.

"How many?"

"I'm guessing a dozen scattered across this clearing."

"We need to advance on them and take their position so they can't be reinforced." Grabakhar turned to the other Wraiths. "Give us cover fire, on my mark. Anakin, come with me, using your lightsaber." The Noghri commando unsheathed two nasty daggers. "Three, two, one, MARK!"

Anakin ignited his lightsaber and followed the Noghri's lead. Grabakhar leapt over a broken tree into a crater. Anakin winced when he heard the screams and saw the blood spatter on Grabakhar's knives when the commando jumped out and headed for the next Espo position. Anakin deflected a blaster bolt and jumped down into a crater, killing three of the Elites.

He continued in the bloody massacre, fighting only by the instincts that the CSA had implanted in him.

"Captain!" called the Sergeant from his bunker. "HQ's on the line. Enemy forces have breached our defenses at Bunker Alpha Seven. They want us to pull back to help evac the kids!"

"Got it Sarge. Start heading back. The Wraiths and I will cover your retreat."

"Sir, Private Zanzi and I can help!"

"Go Sergeant! That's an order! You're wounded. Get the Jedi out of here!" shouted Grabakhar.

The Sergeant saluted, and he and the Private started moving back. Anakin clipped his lightsaber to his belt and pulled out his rifle, dropping CSA troops that were beginning to filter into the clearing while dropping back quickly.

There was a high pitched whine from behind him. Anakin dove out of the transport speeder's way at the last second. When he noticed the pilot, he groaned and climbed aboard. "Kell! What are you doing? Orders were to hold the base until the evac was complete!"

"We're Intelligence kid. We don't exactly follow orders from Generals. Hop in!"

The Wraiths hopped through the open troop bay doors on both sides of the transport and hooked the clips hanging from the ceiling to their belts. Anakin looked at them for a moment, bewildered, but when Elassar leaned out the open door way and returned fire with the Espos, he got it. Anakin clipped himself in and used the cord to swing onto the roof of the transport and opened fire.

They came to a sudden stop and he hopped off, looking for his brother, Uncle Luke, or Face. He found Face talking with General Farlander in the command tent in the center of the Complex.

"What's going on, sir?"

"The General just approved my plan. We're going to steal a landing craft from their base and get on board the Planet Slayer. Your grandpa says that'll have the fleet command program he needs to demobilize the Eclipse. Reload weapons and ammo, and meet back here in five."

"Yes sir!"

  
  


"Good. It's game day kid, and we're on the spot. Get moving."


	29. Elites

Chapter 29

Anakin walked over to the armory tent and began stocking up on grenades and power-packs, Part of this didn't seem right. He was a Jedi Knight, yet he was dressed in a black combat suit and light ceramic body armor. He was wearing no less than four blaster pistols, a silenced AP projectile pistol, and one rifle was slung over his back, as well as ammunition for all of these weapons. The HUD on his helmet's visor was linked to a short range motion sensor, and could be linked to his rifle's scope at the touch of a button. He was more commando now than Jedi, it seemed.

"Thanks for your help out there, Captain Solo," said a voice from behind him. Anakin turned. It was the Sergeant from the bunker, holding a bacta patch to his shoulder. "I just wanted to let you know that you and your squadmates saved my life, and Private Zanzi's. If you ever need anything while you're based on Borleias, should we win this battle that is, never hesitate to ask. Sergeant First Class Akao Venchain, at your service."

"I appreciate the offer Sergeant, and if I ver need something while I'm on base, I'll come to you. Thanks."

"Good luck, Cap'n. Stay alive."

Easier said than done, he thought as Sergeant Venchain strode off in the direction of the medical tent, most likely to get his bandage changed.

Anakin's thoughts were interrupted again when someone grabbed him from behind. He didn't have any time to react before Tahiri was kissing him. She pulled back after moment and stared straight into his eyes.

"I love you too. Stay safe." She grinned. The CSA must've left out the instincts for talking to girls. Reading his mind, she said, "Amazing how you can be so cold and decisive in battle, but you still can't talk to girls."

He grinned and shrugged. "The main problem with being at war for most of my adult life. I never had time to learn."

She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Kell's looking for you. Go, and stay alive. I don't want a repeat of last time right?"

Anakin nodded and promised, "I will." Then she pushed him away and walked off. Anakin went back to the command bunker, where the rest of the Wraiths were waiting.

"Good. Solo, you're here," Face said as he activated a holo-map. "Our mission is to steal a shuttle from the CSA base camp approximately six hundred klicks to the east. Which is here. We've got swoops for transportation. We hit fast, and stealthily. Suppressed weapons during the theft. We want this to stay quiet. From now on, use call signs only. Skywalker, for this op, you've been designated 'Thirteen.' Move out."

Everywhere around the clearing, soldiers began to cheer when they saw the Wraiths go by. The Wraiths' armor was more high tech than regular soldiers, and they were seen as the elites who would win this battle. If most of them knew what we were setting out to do, thought Anakin Skywalker, they would be admitting us into a mental ward.

The Wraiths boarded the special swoops they had brought off the Night Caller. The swoops had had their engines silenced, but still retained almost all of their speed. They sped off amid the cheering and clapping, setting out to save Borleias, and maybe whole the Jedi Order.

  
  



	30. Boarding Action

Chapter 30

"Twelve and Six are in position," whispered Runt into his helmet's comlink. The CSA base camp was mostly empty, patrolled by only a few sentries. 

"Good. The shuttle's seems to be lifting off. Take it now. Any sentries you come across are to be killed silently. Go." With Face's command, Anakin and Runt raised their suppressed pistols, crept toward the shuttle and killed two sentries. Across the camp, Anakin saw the last four sentries fall to AP rounds. The Wraiths sprinted for the shuttle, keeping their heads low in case there were any Espos left. They made it to the shuttle without any trouble, and Kell and Skywalker took the pilot's and copilot's seats after a brief struggle, as they were the most experienced with the older Lambda shuttles.

The com crackled just after they lifted off. "Shuttle Arsec, what's going on down there? The forces left behind in our forward base are not responding."

Face took the microphone and did a nearly perfect imitation of the shuttle pilot's voice. He's good, thought Skywalker, he can imitate that pilot's voice after hearing only one word (The word was Sithspawn). "This is Arsec. The Rebs attacked us, a small force of elites, probably Jedi. They killed the sentries, and we suffered a little damage. We've got a leak of engine fluids, requesting clearance to land in an unoccupied hanger bay."

"Granted Arsec. Hurry back."

***

They made it the rest of the way to the Planet Slayer without innocent. The hanger bay they had landed in was empty, and the Wraiths took advantage of the precious moments to check their gear and prepare for the assault. Once they found a terminal where Skywalker could log in, they would lower the air pressure beyond the human norm, which would cause the crew to black out until they brought the pressure back up, which most likely wouldn't be until after the crew had been locked into a cargo or hanger bay and unarmed.

"Everyone ready?" Face asked. All of the Wraiths nodded, and removed their weaponry. The two Anakins drew their lightsabers, and the rest of the Wraiths drew all sorts of customized blasters and carbines. "Alright. Move."

They ran to the doorway, and Face slammed the open button. A team of technicians in bio-hazard gear were waiting, surprised, on the other side. Two were skewered by lightsabers, and the rest were taken out in a hail of blaster fire.

"This way!" said Skywalker. The layout of SSD's hadn't changed at all since the Executer. "If I remember right, there's a computer center right up this corridor." They began to encounter sporadic resistance from Espos along the way.

Finally they reached the computer center. There were a few techs in there, but they were stunned by the Wraiths. They took up defensive positions around the room while Anakin hooked into the Planet Slayer's command interface. "Get your masks up!" he said before he pressed the button. All around the room, the Wraiths tapped a button on their helmets, and breath masks slid up, covering their faces completely, and making it hard to tell who was who. "Alright. Air pressures is dropping...dropping...good. Any humans or humanoids on the ships should be out cold in just a few seconds."

"Excellent," said Face's voice over the comlink. "Head for the bridge."***

It took them ten minutes to get to the Super Star Destroyer's bridge, and when they got there, they faced an unwelcome surprise.

The reborn Thrawn and a dozen or so non-human crew members stood around the deck, blaster rifles leveled at the Wraiths.

"Well done," said the Chiss Grand Admiral. "But this is where the game comes to an end." 


	31. Finishing the Job

Chapter 31

The Wraiths laid down their blasters and lightsabers. "All of them, if you please, and your helmets." They began taking off all of their weapons, pulling out knife after knife, and several clips of ammunition.

Thrawn tapped a button on his comlink. Another soldier came up from the crew pit, wearing black leather armor, hooded cloak swirling around him, the hood keeping his face shrouded in shadows. "He, along with his clones, are Garinoska's crowning achievement. They are the shock troops that will make the CSA the ultimate power in the galaxy.

"And if you had waited, the would have been yours to command, Master Skywalker, amd Jedi Solo. They were to be your Force troopers." As if on cue, the new arrival pulled out his lightsaber, the blade glowing a ruby red. "Master Skywalker, if you would please turn up the air pressure so I can get rid of this horrid breath mask."

Anakin stepped forward hands in the air, walking towards the control console next to Thrawn. He reached down to type into the keypad, but with speed far faster than everyone, excepting Anakin Solo (since he had had the same enhancements), Anakin pulled his lightsaber towards him, ignited it, and held it at Thrawn's throat.

"None of you move," he said coldly, "or your admiral will no longer have a head." He looked at Thrawn. "I have one question, why are you stooping so low as to serve Garinoska? Why aren't you preparing to lead the Remnant to glory, with Admiral Pellaeon at your side?"

Thrawn looked at Anakin, who's gaze remained cold as steel. "I can't. Garinoska has programmed me somehow for loyalty. Help me, Lord Vader."

"Order your men to back down. We'll get you to the Temple on Borleias, but you need to help break the blockade."

"I can't!" cried Thrawn. He seemed to be having two personalities emerging. "Back down! All of you!"

Thrawn's men looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Before anyone could have reacted however, Anakin Solo grabbed his lightsaber and leapt behind the Force trooper, locking into saber combat. The Wraiths took advantage of the situation, grabbing their blasters and trading fire with Thrawn's soldiers. Anakin Skywalker hit Thrawn over the head with the hilt of his lightsaber, knocking the Chiss admiral out. He then entered the battle against the Force trooper.

Anakin Solo had his blade locked against the Force trooper's when his grandfather came up and beheaded the Dark Jedi. The other Wraiths looked at the dead man's face and gasped. It was Anakin, but with his eyes glowed a bright red, similar to the glow in the eyes of a Chiss.

"Anakin," said Face. "Can you log in from here and send the rest of their fleet away?"

"Easily. Then I'll lower the air pressure of the Deathly Silence and send it into orbit around Mon Calamari, where they can muster some troops to capture her."

"Get on it. Bhindi, lift the comm jamming and get word down to the garrison not to evac."

"As ordered Face."

After a moment, Keyan Farlander's voice echoed through the bridge on the intercomm. "Colonel Loran, we've repelled the attackers for the time being. Captain Drason says you've accomplished your mission and are going to summon reinforcements."

Face walked over to the console and answered back, "That's right, General. We need a crew to come up and assume command of the ship, and some labor droids to move all unconscious crew members to the brig, until they can be dropped off somewhere safe. We might have a new ally. Grand Admiral Thrawn."

"What?!"

"He's been brought back by Garinoska and made obedient to Garinoska along through a Dark-side Force technique. Skywalker thinks some of the Jedi could lift the conditioning and make him loyal to us. He'll have to be watched of course, but imagine what he could bring to our side."

"I'm glad to hear it Colonel. We'll have a makeshift crew up ASAP, and some droids will come with them. Farlander out."

"Get ready people," Face said to the Wraiths. "We're heading back down soon."


	32. Wedding Bells

Chapter 32

Two months had passed since the CSA defeat at Borleias. Garinoska was in hiding. The CSA fleet had been scattered, and were most likely installing new computer cores in all of their ships. Right now, the Galactic Alliance of Free Republics was just defending its borders, which had been reinforced by the Eclipse-Star Destroyer Hope of the Alliance and the Super Star Destroyer Remember Myrkr.

Anakin Solo straightened his black bow tie in front of the mirror before putting on his black jacket. It was Jacen's wedding day, and it was almost time to go. The Jedi Temple's Great Hall had been filled with rows of seats, for all of Jacen's family, friends, fellow Jedi, and many politicians, including Cal Omas (as he would be performing the ceremony), as well as military personel from the Base. Fyor Rodan was not going to be attending, thankfully.

He walked out of his room, heading towards the rail station that would take him to the Temple. It was a short walk, and on the way, he met up with Kell, who was wearing a nicer form of his day uniform, with the old Wraith Squadron insignia on the shoulder, and a Kalidor Crescent hanging under his rank insignia. A gray hand-woven baldric from Corellia completed the outfit, giving him the air of a retired pilot who still had no small amount of pride from his days in the service.

Anakin raised an eyebrow. "I figured I'dress up a little," answered Kell.

"You're still insane. But Elassar'll probably be dressed up even worse. What prank have you, the rest of the Wraiths, and Hobbie and Janson planned?"

"None. We're planning for your wedding."

Anakin groaned, knowing he would probably be extremely embarrassed when that day did come.

***

The ceremony had been beautiful, with Ben Skywalker being the ring-bearer. The reception was being held under the bright light of the stars (as well as a few flourescent flood lights). The band was Fiery Figrin Da'an and the Modal Nodes, which Lando Calrissian had gotten to come after calling in a few favors.

Anakin watched with Tahiri as Jacen and Danni danced their wedding dance. "I think we ought to do that soon," said Tahiri softly as she moved into his arms.

"What?"

"Get married," she replied, "and have a wedding dance. What did you think I was talking about?"

"I was kind of shocked, that's all. But yes. We should."

She kissed him as the song ended, and Face and Kell ran up the microphone. Anakin groaned. "What? Does my breath stink?"

"No. The Wraith Squadron prank. We'll have to watch out for that, you know."

"We, on behalf of all of the Wraiths would like to congratulate Jacen and Danni on their marriage," Face began.

"And we'd like to wish them happiness till the end of their days," added Kell. "On another note, the Whyren's Reserve the bartender is serving is of an excellent vintage-"

"And that's it. Good night everyone!" Face bowed deeply, and half-dragged Kell off the stage.

Later that night, when the Modal Nodes were striking up their last tune, and most of the Rogues and Wraiths were drunk out of their minds and trying to stagger back to their quarters, Anakin and Tahiri danced slowly. Anakin stared up at the stars, wondering what the future would hold, while Tahiri's head rested on his chest. He looked down at here and forgot his thoughts for a moment. He was unofficially engaged to the girl of his dreams, he had found a sense of belonging with the Wraiths, and to Anakin Solo, all was once again well in the universe.

  
  


The End 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Author's Note: Sorry this was so long in coming. I've been going back and making minor changes to the story, but I figured I should do the last two first, and get them posted. I'm currently working on the sequel, but I won't post it until I have a substantial amount, anywhere from 3 to 5 chapters. Thanks for all of the reviews everyone, and I hope to see more when I post the sequel.


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